TRADE BALANCES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 93, 21 April 1939, Page 5

TRADE BALANCES

EXCHANGE OF GOODS

IMPORT AND EXPORT

NEW ZEALAND'S BEST CUSTOMERS

Returns of exports and imports for 1939 are likely to show marked differences in trade relations between New Zealand and other countries against those of 1938 and recent years, should the policy of the Government in respect to control of imports and exports be continued as it has begun. Sufficient time has not yet elapsed between the operation of control of imports as from December, 1938, to the end of March last to show any marked reduction in the volume and value of imports; nor, for the matter of that, in the augmentation of the holding of sterling exchange.

For the first two months of this year the value of imports was £9,518,149 (here and elsewhere shown in New Zealand currency), or £461,907 less than for the corresponding period of 1938, so that not much progress in their reduction can be apparent in so short a time. Not until June 30 next at least may any pronounced change in the trade position be noticeable.

Taking the ideal of the Government !to be "buy from New Zealand, the 'United Kingdom, and other countries in that order," changes to be made in distribution of trade in 1939 may be | easier to forecast if the trade done in I 11938 is shown in graphic form as well as i of by bald figures. For this pur-; pose the exports have been taken as including re-exports and the imports are those shown as according to the country whence imported. The respective values of the trade of various countries are shown as follows: — PROPORTIONS OF TRADE. In £Looo,ooos.

Exports to and imports from some other countries in amounts were as follows: — Exports. Imports. £NZ. £NZ. rntiia, Burma, Ceylon, Malaya 231,142 1,50-1,577 Union South Africa ... 19,357 90,26G Fiji 98,427 142,273 Gilbert and Ellice Is. . 6,678 64,746 Western Samoa 66,936 115,728 Nauru Island 4,775 140,685 Netherlands 147,45; i" 202,322 Norway 2,310 64,074 Poland 194-164 11,912 Soviet Russia _........- Sueden"". 83,722 375,198 Denmark 63,261 18,096 Switzerland 2.791 219,448 China 34,597 109,036 Irak and Turkey 2 (50,224 Pacific Islands (foreign) 105,047 15,(28 TOTAL. TRADE. Exports. Imports. £NZ. £NZ. British Countries 52,715,809 41,415,369 Foreign Countries 5,378,618 14,006,820 Grand Total (including ships' stores) £NZ ~ 58,376,283 55,422,189 The returns are for direct trade with New Zealand and therefore do not take

r account of shipments of New Zealand (products to, say, the United Kingdom, and there purchased and thence shipped to other countries. DIVERSITY OF PRODUCTS. Trade returns for Czecho-Slovakia, for obvious reasons, may not be particularised in 1939, but for 1938 exports from New Zealand were of the value of £24,508, and imports from Czecho-Slovakia wel-e of the value of £161,918. That the trade of some countries is substantially in their favour may be explained by their ability to meet New Zealand requirements of materials, products, or goods not obtainable in other countries. The Netherlands Indies, for instance, is an important supplier of motor spirit; India, Burma, Malaya, and some other tropical countries furnish native products—tea from Ceylon may be mentioned. But such countries have vast native populations which do not require or cannot afford to buy New Zealand products for their own consumption; and the foreign populations of European origin living in such countries are very small with a limited demand for what New Zealand has to sell.

In the case of France, reference has been made already to the heavy trade balance against that country. The reason for this is to be found in the fact that France is one of New Zealad's most valued customers for wool; but France largely specialises in the [production of goods that are regarded as luxuries and highly taxed accordingly. The same condition applies in large part to some of the chief products of Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Shipments of mineral oils and their derivatives figure prominently in the imports from the United States. Trade between the Union of South Africa and New Zealand is exceedingly small, but it may be improved by the new facilities for direct' shipment. South Africa, however, is a producer of wool, dairy produce, and fruit and of these has a large exportable surplus which enters other markets with those from New Zealand; and it also has a valuable wine trade. Rhodesia is in the chilled beef business, but also exports tobacco; and East Africa is a large producer of sisal which is a competitor in the world's fibre market. NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOUR. As for Australia, it is scarcely necessary at this time to enlarge on the rapid progress made by secondary industries in that country and the export trade in them to New Zealand. But although Australia is the next-door neighbour of New Zealand it affords but a small market, even in times of scarcity, not to say famine, for New Zealand's primary products, so stoutly are the Australian primary industries such as dairy produce and fruit and vegetables protected. So far as it goes, the diagramatic presentation of the value of New Zealand external trade may be helpful in showing at a glance the position as it was in 1938 and the likelihood of a very different set of pictures being presented in 1939 and 1940.