EASTERN TRADE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 9, 8 December 1932, Page 8

EASTERN TRADE.

AUSTRALIA’S OPPORTUNITY

Mr 0. L. B. Hope, who for nearly 20 years has been engaged in trade in the East, stated in Sydney a few days ago that the time was never more ripe for Australian exporters to make a concerted effort to capture the Eastern market.

At present, he said, America was taking a large proportion of this trade. In normal times Australian exporters, principally of canned goods, should be able to undersell the Americans; but to-day, with the exchange in their favour, they should have an advantage of 50 per cent. Mr Hope urged that bureaux to advertise Australian products should be established in Penang, Singapore, Shanghai and Hongkong. Canada was about to establish bureaux of this nature, and unless Australian exporters “woke up” they would find a large market, which naturally belonged to Australia, taken from them. Mr Hope also advocated the education of Australian exporters in Eastern methods, particularly regarding tlie labelling of goods. “The point is,” he said, “that the business is lying at Australia’s door. Advertising propaganda should be started in every important centre. It would not cost muck For the expenditure of a few thousand pounds Australia would gain to the amount of millions, for the East will take almost anything you send to it.”