TRADE IN FEBRUARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21131, 14 March 1932, Page 10

TRADE IN FEBRUARY.

FALL IN IMPOST TOTAL. movement continues. LOWEST FIGURE SINCE WAR. FAVOURABLE BALANCE GROWS. While the value of exports for February as revealed by the returns of overseas trade issued by the Customs Department in Wellington on Saturday shows an increase over that for January, and for February last year, that of imports w the lowest for any February since the war • The apparent favourable balance was practically three times that in the second month of 1931.. It was also nearly £1,000,000 better than in February, 1930. and, while lower than for such years as 1928 and 1929, does not suffer by comparison with a number of other years since 1920. Following is a comparison of the Febiuary returns in the last five years:

The highest valuation of exports in February since the war was £8,336,263 in 1925, and this record was nearly equalled in 1929. The highest figure for imports was £4,290,431 in 1926. Tlie February return for exports last year was the lowest since 1921, but in addition to those two years, February, 1026, produced a lower valuation than the second month of 1932.

Continued illustration of the effect of low prices upon the value of exports, and the adjustment of imports to the situation can be found by the returns for the last eight months, corresponding with the season of production. Following is a summary covering this period in recent years:—

* Excess of exports in 1927-28, 1928-29 and 1931-32; excess of imports in other yeafrs.

This season, in contrast with the two which preceded it, only six months' operations were needed to produce a surplus of exports over imports; in 1930-31 an excess of exports did not appear until 10 months of the export year had been completed, while the whole period, July-June in 1929-30 showed an adverse balance.

As the official figures are expressed in New Zealand currency for exports and in sterling for imports, direct comparison is misleading. With a suitable adjustment it appears that the trade for eight months has produced a surplus equal to £3.650,000 in London.

Exports. Imports. Kxr :ea 1028 . £7,842,822 £3.578,23H £4,2 64, 1929 . 8,050,083 3,678,543 4,3 77 mo , 5,f,24,836 3,908,218 1,6 56 io:u L932 . 3.294,873 . 4,434,627 2,390,528 1,804,492 m

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