VALUE OF WORLD TRADE

Evening Star, Issue 22382, 4 July 1936, Page 12

VALUE OF WORLD TRADE

UNITED KINtDOM LEADS STATISTICS FOR MAIN GOUHTnTES Gold value of world trade in February, 3936, was 8.4 par cent, higher than in February, 1935. In accordance with tho usual seasonal movement it fell between January and February, 1936, by 4.1 per cent.; the decrease in tho same period of 1935 was 6.3 per cent. The increase in value compared with last year reflects mainly an increase in gold prices of some 5 per cent, and an increase in quantum, most of which may bo accounted for by the fact that the month of February this year contained an additional day. The April number of tho Monthly Bulletin of Statistics of the League of Nations gives, in addition to .regular tables, information on world trade, on the central monetary gold reserves of the world, and the movement of prices of raw materials and manufactured products. movements in trade. Tho information on the movement of world trade which is currently summarised on the basis of the trade statistics of 75 countries is confirmed by a complete annual table. The 12 most important trading countries (excluding Italy, for which complete statistics are not available) accounted in 1935 for 62.3 per cent, of total world trade (excluding Italy), compared with 65 per cent, in 1929. The share of the smaller countries has thus increased. The biggest trading country in 1935 was the United Kingdom, with 14.2 per cent, of the world total (imports plus exports). Second place is occupied by the United States of America with 11 per cent., the third by Germany with 8.7 per cent., and the fourth by France with 6.2 per cent. Then follow Japan and Canada with -8.6 per cent, each, Belgium with 3.1 per cent., the Netherlands and India with 2.8 per cent, each, South Africa with 2.2 per cent., and Australia and the Argentine with 2.1 per cent, each. The order in 1929 was as follows:—United States of Amorcia 14.2 per cent., United Kingdom 13.4 per cent., Germany 9.6 per cent., France 6.4 per cent., Canada 3.8 per cent., India 3.1 per cent., Japan and Netherlands 2.9 per cent, each, Belgium 2.8 per cent., the Argentine 2.6 per cent., Australia 1.9 per cent., and Czechoslovakia 1.8 per cent. GOLD RESERVES. The total of the world’s visible central gold reserves (excluding those of tho Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Italy) increased during the first quarter of 1936 by 79 million old gold dollars. In, this quarter reserves dropped in France by 28 millions, _ in Belgium by 14, in Spain by 5, and in Germany and Poland by 2 millions. On the other hand, they increased in the _ United States of America by ,35 millions, in