BRITISH COAL EXPORTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 October 1939, Page 7

BRITISH COAL EXPORTS

BIG INCREASE TO NEUTRALS

[BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.] • (Recd. October 21, 10.45 am) ' RUGBY, October 20. Between September 1 and October 10, licenses for the export of coal to j Sweden .were issued for 315,000 tons. The. normal monthly average of British coal exports to Sweden is 221,000 tons. In the same period, a total of 446,000 tons has been licensed for export to Norway, and 837,000 tons to Denmark, compared with peace-time figures of 113,000 tons and 250,000; tons, respectively. ’Phis is an interesting demonstration of the British intention, made clear in the early days of the war. to main-! tain and if possible increase exports.; Export licenses are being freely issued, although in the first few weeks of the war there were inevitably some delays. Incidentally, the figures given above dispose of the idea, which is being sedulously propagated in certain neutral markets by Nazi agents, that Britain will be unable to keep up her exports. Germany’s external trade having been, in effect, on a war footing for years, her export trade arrangments with those countries to which she is still able to send goods have not shown temporary dislocation, which, in the British case, is due to the imposition of war controls. But Germany’s position as an exporter in war is likely to suffer more serious, far-reaching, and lasting, if for the present more gradual dislocation, on account of the increasing difficulties she is experiencing in maintaining the quality of her exports and in fulI filling her orders.