JAPAN TO BUY LESS WOOL

Southland Times, Issue 23346, 2 November 1937, Page 8

JAPAN TO BUY LESS WOOL

Statement Made By Visitor FINANCIAL POLICY OF GOVERNMENT COMPANIES’ DOUBTS AS TO COMMITMENTS (Special to The Times) AUCKLAND, November 1. This year Japan will buy between 50,000 and 60,000 bales of wool from New Zealand, which represents something like half of her purchases from the Dominion last year. Mr T. Asakawa, international representative of C. Itoh and Company, of Osaka, made this statement on his arrival by the Niagara and amplified it by saying that although Japanese mills were greatly in need of further stocks the Government control of finance necessarily restricted the demand for raw wool. Last year Japan’s total world purchases of wool aggregated approximately 800,000 bales, which was apportioned as follows: —Australia 300,000, South Africa 300,000, South America 100,000, New Zealand 100,000. According to Mr Asakawa the allocations this year will probably be: 300,000 bales from Australia, 50,000 to 60,000 each from New Zealand, South Africa and South America, which indicates that for the time being, at least, South Africa’s contribution has been cut to one-sixth and New Zealand’s and South America’s to one-half of what Japan took from them in the 1936-37 wool season. Mr Asakawa said he could give no satisfactory answer to the question whether the shortage of wool stocks, combined with the general situation in Japan, might prompt the Government to order the development and manufacture of substitutes, although he did not anticipate that the war would last much longer. He said he thought the end would come soon. The Government had decided upon a prudent financial policy with the natural result that industrial companies were a little in doubt as to what commitments they could make. “We want wool,” he said, but the Government is in control and finance is the ruling interest. We have the money to pay for it, but we must conserve our finances.” Mr Asakawa is to spend two weeks in New Zealand, after which he will proceed to South America and South Africa to make surveys on behalf of his firm.