TRADE REVIEW

Southland Times, Issue 18965, 12 June 1923, Page 5

TRADE REVIEW

REHABILITATING AUSTRIA BRADFORD WOOL SLUMP GOOD DEMAND FOR APPLES. (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright). (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON, June 9. The Stock Exchange had the usual Derby week slackness and business has been on a small scale. The strength of gilt-edged securities was hardly maintained. There has been some selling which is attributed partly to the desire to provide funds for a new Austrian loan but the ready subscription of the West Australian loan and the firmness of other new issues show that the gilt-edged position is unlikely to have any serious setback. Great interest is being taken in the Austrian loan which is expected to be well subscribed as allowing for redemption within thirteen years, it will yield interest at £8 12/3 per cent., and it has not only a prior charge on Austrian customs and the tobacco monopoly but it is guaranteed in sterling with respect to both principal and interest by European States in the following proportional:—Britain, France and Czechoslovakia, 24J; Italy, 20| per cent; Belgium and Sweden, two each; Denmark and Holland, one each. The loan is a novel operation. Nothing quite of its kind has been attempted before and as the Investors’ Chronicle states, it makes history as the first constructive effort to repair the ravages of the Great War. It is the first tangible outcome of the co-operation of nations in economic work for which the League of Nations stands. The German mark continues its downward course and the issue of the last Note has had no good effects, to-day’s quotation being 385,000 to 392,000 to the £. This further decline is apparently not due to the Note itself which is regarded as an improvement on its predecessors but to its hostile reception in France. The Bradford wool trade is in a depressed state with much pessimism among holders of tops, some of whom are endeavouring to liquidate their holdings at considerably below cost. These people were predicting that yesterday’s Hull sales would show a decline of 5 to 7| per cent, compared with last London sales. This probably would have been the case if Yorkshire bankers alone had been operating but Frenchmen bid freely with the result that the whole offerings (25,000 bales) were sold, Frenchmen taking 80 per cent, all fine wools realising London prices. Only coarse sorts showed a slight tendency in buyers’ favour. Yorkshire cloth manufacturers are meeting severe competition from the Continent owing to depreciated exchanges. French manufacturers are able to cut below the British price by at least a shilling a yard on certain cloths, consequently Britain’s exports of cloth to France have shrunk to almost negligible quantities. In this connection it is interesting to note that Sir Henry Whitehead (president of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce), suggests that the Imperial Economic Conference should be asked to consider the advisableness of the colonies placing an export tax on monopolies like rubber and merino wool shipped from the Empire in order to help British manufacturers to meet competition in foreign markets. An interesting reminder of the Government’s vain endeavour to solve the clothing difficulties after the war is furnished by the publication of an offer of standard suits of cloths at 14/11 each wholesale. These suits were made by the Government department for demobilised soldiers and others but proved very unattractive. In 1920 they were hawked about at 31/8 without finding many buyers. In 1921 they were again offered at half that figure, now 250,000 are offering at a giving away price.

The demand for apples continues surprisingly gcod although arrivals are heavy. Apparently advertising propaganda has had a good effect but the strength of the markets is undoubtedly mainly due to the backwardness of soft fruits. Usually the first of June sees the market flooded with cheap strawberries. This year they are conspicuous by their absence and supplies of French cherries have been checked by the cold spell. The British Ministry of Agriculture reports that all classes of small fruits are damaged by frost. Strawberries are likely to be an average crop though very backward. Cherries are only 80 per cent, of the average. Importers therefore are hopeful that the season which started so badly will finish well though there are ten cargoes still to arrive.