BRITISH GOODS

Grey River Argus, 29 April 1938, Page 4

BRITISH GOODS

IMPORTS BY ITALY. Two agreements with Italy were signed at the Foreign Office recently, says the “Daily Telegraph and Morning Post.” - One amends the present Clearing Agreement of November 6, 1936. The other is a new commercial agreement replacing that of the same date. Negotiations were opened because the arrears of trade debts outstanding when the 1936 agreements were concluded have now been practically all settled. It was necessary to re-allocate the 27 per cent, of the sterling receipts collected by the Anglo-Italian Clearing Office which previously were earmarked for liquidation of the old debts, and to establish revised quotas for British exports to Italy. The Clearing (Amendment) Agreement provides that the sterling receipts of the clearing will be allocated in accordance with the following percentages:— (a) The allocation for paj'ments in respect of current exports to Italy is increased from 70 per cent, to 87 per cent. This allocation will be divided between two separate sub-accounts, In the proportion of 46 per cent, for the f o.b. price of coal, and 41 per cent, for other British goods. If the sterling receipts of the Clearing Office in 1938 in respect of the price of imported Italian goods amount to £7,000,000 —the approximate amount collected in 1937 — these percentages will suffice for payments in respect of coal exports to a total value (f.ob.) of nearly £3,250,000, and for payments for other British exports to a total value (c.i.f.) of £2. 870,000. (b) The allocation for financial transfers is increased from 3 per cent, to 6i per cent.

OLD TRADE DEBTS. (c) The remaining 6i per bent, is allocated in the first instance for the transfer of any remaining old trade debts. The agreement provides that any balance not required for this purpose will be placed at the free disposal of the Italian Foreign Exchange Institute; but the Italian Government undertakes to pay for freight and insurances on British coal exports to Italy partly out of this “free” allocation, and partly by providing sterling from sources other than the clearing. Provision is also made for the settlement in six months of the old trade debts due from Italy to Burma, Newfoundland, and the Colonial Empire, and for the adoption of a system by which the Italian Foreign Exchange Institute may undergo to secure the transfer of the sterling equivalent of the deposit made by the Italian debtor —thus obviating the necessity for supplementary lire deposits to cover exchange variations. The purpose of the commercial agreement is to establish revised quotas for British goods—other than coal—imported into Italy, and to con-' tinue the existing quota for Newfoundland codfish and stockfish. i

The total of these revised quotas represents an increase over the old quotas of about 274 per cent.—this being the maximum increase which can at present be contemplated without serious risk of extended payment delays. Increases in quotas include:— Textiles.—Tissues of wool, etc.: From 18,000,000 lire to 24,000,000 lire a year. Tissues of cotton, ' linen, hemp, and jute: from 50 per cent, to 70 per cent, in the value in lire of the 1934 trade. Miscellaneous Goods, not specially) provided for: From 31 per cent, to 40 per cent, of the value in lire of the corresponding imports into Italy in 1934. ' Both agreements came into fore# on March 28.