JAPAN IN AFRICA

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 74, 25 September 1934, Page 12

JAPAN IN AFRICA

SUPPLYING THE NATIVES

CHEAPNESS CREATES DEMAND

How Japan has penetrated the African native market with cljeap goods is shown by Mr. C. Kemp, British Trade Commissioner in East Africa. Reporting to the Department of Overseas Trade, Mr. Kemp states that as a result of remarkably low prices, Japanese imports to East Africa have increased. enormously recently. Particularly striking is the increase in Japanese textile imports, at the expense of British exporters. Between 1926 and 1933, for example, the changes in cotton imports by Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, and Zanzibar were as follows:—

Japanese British V increase decrease

(per cent.) (per cent.) Bleached ..5 to 80 61 ; to .13 Printed ...:...■. 0.3t0 64 63 to 24 Dyed 3 to 71 47 to 23 Coloured ......./17 to 74 15 to 2 This influx of cheap goods has had the effect of increasing native demand. , Sir. Kemp says:— "Many natives,^ in fact, probably; the majority, hitherto producing and buying on a bare subsistence level, have nowbeen brought into the regular category of ■purchasers of imported goods many years "earlier than in other circumstances might" have been the case; desires have been- created and money or purchasing power will be striven aftar to indulge those jdesires. ' . "The clearest examples are afforded in Uganda. A few years ago clothing was virtually the only native want. A market developed for bicycles, and it is now quite common to find, natives buying windows arid.; door' frames and furniture for their hutel . : ' ' '. , ' "As times gones on. such simple wants and;: tastes '■■ will doubtless be extended to cover a much wider category of manufactured goods with a'definite tendency towaf.ds more specialised and highly-priced manufactures to be bought.'

BICYCLES AT 18s,

Giving examples of some of the low prices by which Japan has secured her tratie in East Africa, Mr. Kemp quotes the' following instances:—- . . Bicycles at 18s each—as a result of whicli imports jumped from 199 in 1931 to 1533 last-year. . : . . Cardigans 6d each. , ■ ■ Singlets,'2s 6d per.doz.; and . Cotton sacks 36a per gross, ■ delivered duty paid "at up-country stations. In addition, Japanese manufacturers are increasing their trade in; cheap toys, cer-taifl-kinds of sporting equipment, and soap. Discussing the-future of Japanese competition, Mr. Kemp says:— "The steps taken by Japanese manufacturers • -to breate;.and:establish - new toes against, the competition of goods which, over a period of years, had obtained a goodwill in the market, the continuous care taken'to improve the qualities of goods of which first shipments were pom, and the margins, of possible price differentials even when the benefits of currency depreciation are lost, show that, technically speaking, Japan is now fu y organised to meet the competition of the older manufacturing nations. ' . "Moreover, if J^anese goods with relatively considerable rises in price can still be produced and sold within the limits of' native purchasing, power, they start with a. heavy, advantage in the race, tor markets."

CUT-PRICE MENTALITY.

Japan is not the only Eastern supplier of cheap goods to be considered, adds Mr. Kemp. Hong Kong and Bntish Malaya are already exhibiting signs of competing against certain Japanese manufactures m this market, a point which goes far to emphasise the "cut price mentality and, still further, to destroy confidence in normal trading relations with other manufacturing nations. "Quite a number of observers have, in recent 'years, succumbed to a■• species ct economic'defeatism and propounded the view that Eastern manufacturing resources ■will, as time' goes on, in, ever-increasing measure, supply the wants of'native races; it is, on the contrary, quite conceivable that the specialised manufactures of the West will beneficially exploit an opportun-ity-that is now in the most embryonic stage only." •An important body of local opinion, the Commissioner adds, holds that the ri»ht policy is gradually to educate the native towards a desire for goods of a higher quality. Once that policy takes effect discrimination in buying will not onlß. induce him to improve his purchasing power but may lead him to desire more 'specialised and more highly-priced goods. ; -' : :

HOW BRITAIN LOSES TRADE,

Mr. Kemp reports many examples of the commercial slackness of British exporters which militate against an increase m ihe volume of- British trade. These include: "Non-fulfilment of guaranteed shipment; "Slackness in detailed attention to orders; , . . ,i, ' "Variation ■ from sample in weight or. measurement; . "Thepacking together of mixed consignments /or up-country destinations, with the result that the parcel is charged at the rate for the highest class goods in the package;. • . . "Delay in the dispatch of invoices, and "Acknowledgments of urgent air mail inquiries'by the •slower surface transport.^ Mr. Kemp is optimistic regarding the trade position! in. general. There is good reason, to believe, he says, that the low point of the depression has at last been passed-in East Africa. Although improvement in business conditions may be slow, yet the tendency is definitely in a favourable direction, particularly if the longawaited improvements in the markets for primary products should, in fact, mature.