TRUTH ABOUT TRADE

Evening Star, Issue 21638, 6 February 1934, Page 11

TRUTH ABOUT TRADE

A 'TIMES' SURVEY BRITAIN BUYS AND SELLS ENLIGHTENING FIGURES Trade has been better of recent months, and the outlook is decidedly more hopeful. There is, however, still a long way to go, and the facts and figures given in ‘ The Times Trade and Engineering Supplement ’ prove this fact. The following article tells what tbe world is doing in the way of trade. “It is not tbe practice of the Board of Trade to examine the distribution of trade between the countries of origin and destination every month; tho monthly returns are issued as rapidly as possible, and the account of tho declared value of merchandise imported from and exported to other countries is made up quarterly and published in the returns for the month following each three-monthly period. A CLUE TO THE MARKETS. “ The October returns accordingly contain an account of the imports and exports by countries for the first threequarters of the year, and examination of these figures provides a clue to the markets in which British trade is active or the reverse. “ Taking first the countries of origin of British imports, the outstanding feature _ is the fact that imports from British countries overseas, including protectorates, mandated territories, and so on, have remained steady for the first nine month in the last three years, while imports from foreign countries have fallen heavily. “ In round figures the imports from British countries, in millions sterling, have been 181, 183, and 182 for the first nine months in 1931, 1932, and 1933 respectively, while, again in millions sterling, imports from foreign countries have been 440, 337, and 306 respectively. Compared with the same period in 1932 imports from the Irish Free State have declined by more than seven millions sterling, those from Palestine have risen steadily, and Sierra Leone and Nigeria have increased. “ Northern Rhodesia’s figures have risen from 291 to 807 thousands sterling. India is back again to the level of 1931 after a lapse, but the Straits Settlements have lost ground in both years, and the same is true of the Federated Malay States and Ceylon. “ Australia has just about maintained her figures, and so has New Zealand, while the Fiji Islands have gone ahead and Canada can show 22, 29, and 32 as round figures in millions sterling for the first nine months of the last three years. Jamaica has fallen away, but Trinidad has done very well, and British Guiana has made progress. Turning to foreign countries, imports from the Soviet Union for the nine months have fallen in millions sterling from 21 in 1931 to 13 in 1932 and 11 in 1933. Finland has increased a little, Latvia and Estonia have not quite held their own, and Lithuania has made some progress. Sweden did better than in 1932, but is not back to the figures of 1931, and Norway has fallen away a good deal. “ Denmark’s returns for the nine months in each of the last three years in millions sterling have been 35, 31, and 27. Poland is about the same as last year, but a good deal lower than in 1931. GERMANY, FRANCE. JAPAN, AND U.S.A. “ The figures for Germany are instructive ; in millions sterling they read 45}, 22, and 21. The Netherlands arc 26, 17, 14 in millions sterling. Imports from the Dutch West Indies have risen from £2,335,000 to £3,631,000 and £6,019,900 respectively'. Imports from Belgium have declined in millions sterling from 23 to 12 and 9. “France in millions sterling . has fallen from 30 to 14 and 13. Switzerland is doing less than half of what she was able to do in 1931. Spain has fallen away by about 20 per cent., and in millions sterling Italy has fallen from 11 to 8 and 7. There is very little trade from Austria or Hungary; Czechoslovakia has sent us less than half of what she was able to sand in 1931. Egypt has done a little better, and the trade from Persia has developed. “It will surprise many to find that Japan’s figures show a. slight decline, being, in millions sterling, just above 5 in the three quarters of 1931 and 1932, and this year just below 5. In millions sterling .the United States Inis fallen from 73 to 59 ami 52. On the

whole, there has not been much change in Latin-American countries, though the tendency is lower. In millions sterling the Argentine returns are 38, 40, and 32. WHAT JOHN BULL SELLS. “ The Irish Free State during the nine months has taken British merchandise to the value in millions sterling of less than 14, compared with 21 in the same period in 1932 and 22} in 1931. The Channel Islands have taken goods to the value of £3,166,830 in the nine months, and Palestine has steadily increased her imports from this country. “In millions sterling tho Union of South Africa’s imports from Great Britain have been 16, 13, 16}, but Northern Rhodesia’s imports from Great Britain. have fallen heavily. India has maintained her purchases fairly well, though those of Ceylon have declined. Australia has made good progress from 11 to 14 and 15 millions sterling, but New Zealand has declined and Canada in millions sterling has fallen from 16 to 12 and 12, Jamaica is fairly steady, and Trinidad has improved a little. “ Turning to markets in foreign countries, the Soviet Union during the three quarters bought British goods to tho value of £2,784,588, compared with £7,095,775 in the same period last year. Finland’s purchases are advancing, and approached £2,000,000 sterling. Latvia and Lithuania were small but increasing markets for . British goods. Sweden shows a decline and Norway has fallen from £6,002,962 in 1931 to £3,874,942, but Denmark has improved from £7,009.115 in 1932 to £8,635,885 this year. Poland has spent 50 per cent, more on British goods than in tho same period last year. There has been little change compared with last year in the case of Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Switzerland, but Portugal has greatly improved. “ The figures for Spain show decline from £3,990,241 to £3,238,359. Italy has been a little better with £6,751,436, but Austria and Hungary' have bought less and are now of relatively •slight importance. Greece, Czechoslovakia, and particularly Yugoslavia, have declined, but Rumania has been buying more and Turkey shows little change. Egypt has been only slightly less important as a market this year than last.

“ China, apart from Hongkong, has declined, and in the nine months her purchases from Great Britain were valued at only £4,912,928. In round figures Japan’s purchases have declined by a million sterling, and for the nine months amounted to £3,488,142, including those of Kwantung and Korea. It is very interesting to note that during the three quarters British exports to the United States advanced from £11,079,368 to £13,914,794. “Mexico has been improving as.a market for British goods, Columbia lias made rapid advance, and the figures for Brazil should be n0ted—£3,261,342 in 1932 and £4,626,903 this year. Argentina as a market has revived, but her purchases this year have been only £9,750,504, compared with £12,049,761 in the corresponding period in 1931, though they are better than in 1932, when they totalled £8,017,200. “The returns published by the Board of Trade may fairly be regarded as a useful corrective to some of the irresponsible statements that have been published recently.”