BALANCE OF TRADE

Hawera Star, Volume LI, 25 May 1932, Page 6

BALANCE OF TRADE

NEW ZEALAND AND HOMELAND THE; D.ETEJIMLYIN'O FACTOR. Apart from a small favourable trade balance wit-li France, the only country with which New Zealand has a favourable balance is the United Kingdom. In 1931 Britain took from New Zealand more than twice the value of the goods she dispatched to these shores. This aspect of the trade relationship between the Dominion and the Homeland is stressed in a report now being prepared to acquaint British manufacturers and merchants with the present position and its problems. It is pointed out that even if the annual interest bill is taken into account, there are still many millions of pounds which New Zealand receives from the sale of her produce in the United Kingdom and which she spends on foreign goods, much of which are in competition with United Kingdom products. SHARE INCREASED' STEADILY In the past three years the United Kingdom’s share has increased steadily, but this share is still under 50 per cent. Percentage figures which disclose the position at a! glance are as follow: NEW ZEALAND’S IMPORTS

The drop in New Zealand’s export trade of more than £10,000,000 for the year 1931 was more than (balanced by the unprecedented fall in the value of her imports. Actually the fall was more than 42 per cent. EFFECT OF INTEREST BILL New Zealand’s trade balance for the year, on a time valuation of the returns (with freight, etc., taken into account) was about £7,000,000, but as normally the country has to find some £9,000,000 for interest payments, in London, the former sum is more than covered. “It seems clear,” states an authority, “that, unless exports rise, imports must still further he reduced. The events of 1931 halve brought out clearly that the amounts of the imports as a whole, into New Zealand are determined not so much by the New Zealand tariff but by the amount of the exports and, in the long run, the exports, less the interest charges, will equal the imports; that is, assuming no overseas loans and no redemptions.”

1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 TJ.K .. 47.933 47-43 46.25 47.27 49.17 U.S.A .. 18.04 18.28 19-10 17.60 15.65 Canada .. 6.12 7-26 9.81 8.84 4.94 Australia .. 8.64 7.79 6.68 7.69 9.80 Prance .. 1.90 1.83 1.49 1.41 1.32 Germany .. 1.87 2.0 1.93 2.27 2.32 Japan .. 1.27 1.28 1.28 1.31 1.23 Other places 14.23 14.13 13.46 13.61 15.67