JAPAN'S EXPORTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23320, 13 April 1939, Page 12

JAPAN'S EXPORTS

FIGHT FOR MARKETS EFFECTS OF THE WAR Japan's fight to retain her export markets was discussed by Mr. Kurt Zimmermann, a textile exporting agent, of Kobe, who arrived by the Roggeveen yesterday, to spend about three months in New Zealand in the course of an extended holiday. "The war boycott has had a disastrous effect on Japanese exports," said Mr. Zimmermann. "She must export or lose her markets, and her Government has been quick to take measures to stabilise the position. Prices for exports have been placed on the level of other foreign markets, and in this way exporting has continued. Factories are still working, and everything is proceeding smoothly, in fact, one would scarcely know that a war was being fought."

Regarding prices, Mr. Zimmermann said Japanese goods had to be cheap to sell. Prices increased some 10 to 20 per cent in the early stages of the war, thus hampering exports, but the balance was soon restored, so that the price of few articles was now higher than formerly. "No one knows what the future may bring," he said. "We feel the war may not last much longer, and we want to bo ready to advance with our trade the moment it is over. People are taking things calmly and philosophically, and it is seldom that military movements are noticed."