OVERSEAS TRADE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23594, 1 March 1940, Page 9

OVERSEAS TRADE

JANUARY RETURN IMPORTS £740,000 LOWER EXPORTS INCREASE £109,000 The return of overseas trade for January, a summary of which was issued bv the Customs Department in Wellington yesterday, show the value of commodity exports in New Zealand currency to have been £6,320,000, or £109,000 more than in the corresponding month last year. The figure, however, is over £1,000,000 lower than for January, ID-JB, and nearly the same amount below that in 1937. Imports at £3,983.000 are the lowest in any January since 1936. The fail, compared with the corresponding month last year, is £740,000, indicating the influence of import restrictions and exchange control. Following is a comparison of the returns for January in the past eight

For the first seven months_ of the production year, which opens in July, exports are* £267,000 higner than for the same portion of the preceding season. They are, however, over £-1,500.000 below the total for 1937-38, which was the greatest to January for any of the past seven seasons. imports show marked effects of restriction, there being a fall in their value for (lie seven months of nearly £8.000.000 compared with the level reached in the same period of 1938-39. As a result there is an excess of exports of £2,364,000, compared with an excess of imports totalling £5,576,000 last year. The figures for the seven months compared with those in the six preceding seasons are:

There wore neither exports nor imports of specie during January.

years ; Excess of Jan. Exports Imports Exports £ 1933 .. 4,001,000 2,523,000 1,478,000 1934 .. 5,080,000 2,859,000 2,221,000 1035 .. .5,070,000 3,227,000 1,849,000 1936 .. 6.09S.000 3,597,000 2,501,000 1937 .. 7,040,000 4,665,000 2,375,000 1938 .. 7,493,000 5,584,000 1,909,000 1939 .. 6,211,000 4,723,000 1,498,000 1940 . . 6,320,000 3,983,000 2,337,000

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