BUSINESS ACTIVITY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 63, 14 March 1940, Page 14

BUSINESS ACTIVITY

FAVOURABLE CONDITIONS

''Evening Post," March 14,

t .cess produce by weight exported gftmt greater in value is a salient poinl ftn the Government Statistician's review 'of business activities beginning 1940. jfe shows that exports of merchandise fduring the month of January were at £6,320,301, as compared with £3,437,219 in December, and £6,211,227 in January, 1939. Of the principal export items, increases in value as compared with January, 1939, were in the case of wool, cheese, frozen mutton, sheepskins with wool, and gold, while decreases were recorded for butter, frozen lamb, frozen pork, frozen beef, and sheepskins without wool. A decrease in quantity was shown for all of the foregoing items with the exception of frozen mutton and sheepskins with wool. The recorded value of commodity imports during January was £3,982,895, an increase of £930,928 above the total for December, but a decrease of £740,329 below the total for January, 1939. The excess of exports over imports for January amounted to £2,337,406, as compared with £1,488,003 and £1,908,518 for that month of 1939 and 1938 respectively. WEATHER AND PRODUCTION. | Reports from district officers of the ! Department of Agriculture indicate! generally favourable weather conditions for production, although in certain localities high winds and heavy rain have caused some damage. Livestock, excepting in the back country of Otago, where bad weather had j been experienced, were in good shape, j In general, statistical indicators of business activity in January compare favourably with the corresponding figures for January of the previous year. Average weekly value of bank debits to customers' accounts (reflecting payments by cheque) was the highest yet recorded for a January month since the information became available. The movement in deposits on current account and in advances between December, 1939, and January, 1940, was almost identical with that shown between, those months of the previous year. For s the first time since August, 1938, deposits with the Post. Office Savings Bank exceeded withdrawals. 'Active bank-note circulation receded but little from the record high level of Decem- I ber. Totalisator investments were 6.4 per cent, above the January, 1939, figure. Sales-tax receipts declined by 8.4 per cent, as compared with the corresponding month of the previous year. REDUCED IMPORTS. The, period in review is but one month, January, but the values of imports for that month this year show a. smart drop when compared with values for January, 1939, and the figures of some lines indicate short supplies. The figures are compared as follows:— 1939. 1940. £ £ Cornflour 4,905 717 •Sausage casings .. 2,757 610 Ale and stout .... 946 2 Tobacco manufctd. . 14,514 771 Tobacco unmanufctd. 48,705 31,894 Cigarettes ....... 40,196- 17,301 C.lgars ............. 115 .15 Whisky 33,882 30,837 Brandy .......;.. 4,937 1,416 Woodpulp 13,243 4,853 Hosiery 20,910 9,416 Hats i and caps .. 36,344 15,925 ■Apparel- 121,950 10,730 Footwear 26,684 6,661 Drapery 22,416 1,4,616 ! Motor spirits ... 246,221 . - 226,489 Galv. iron 88,925 11,654 Jewellery 1,252 315 Sewing machines ..... 5,689 860 Newsprint 38,278 9,000 Motor vehicles .. 700,035 67,726 •Motor-cycles 7,947 279 Among the increases in imports are dried and citrus fruits wheat, infants' foods.., onions, cocoa beans, leather, earthenware and china, cigarette papers, and sulphur.