COAL TRADE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 54, Issue 3895, 28 April 1937, Page 8

COAL TRADE

NORWAY AND BRITISH IMPORTERS’ COMPLAINT. OWNERS DENY ANY HOLD-UP. “As a result of the upward movement all over the world, coal supplies are tighter than they were—not only in this country. There is no hold r up here so far as the trade agreement is concerned.” This was the reply of England’s Central Council of Coalowners to a contention by the Association of Norwegian Coal Importers that; in spite of the Anglo-Norwegian Trade Agreement, Great Britain is unable to satisfy Norway ! s demands for coal, coke, and cinders. Under the Trade Agreement, Norway takes 70 per cent cf her coal from Britain. The Norwagiai importers say that owing to Britain’s inability to satisfy demands they have been forced to make arrangements involving extra-ordinary costs. They consequently maintain that if there is no change in the situation the existing quota scheme cannot be continued, and they strongly urge that the whole matter be cleared up. (They say they must know whether the present scheme is to be continued, and they claim that guarantees be supplied from the British side in order to enable Norwegian importers to meet all demands Regarding quantity, qual ity, and service.

The importers have also asked the Ministry of Commerce and the Government’s Coal Commission to take the matter into their most careful consideration. AGREEMENT IN DANGER. A Norwegian business man in London stated: “There is great dissatisfaction in Norway oyer failure to get her coal requirements from Britain. I have a report from one of the leading importers, who points out that Norway, under the agreement, takes 70 per cent, of her requirements from Britain. Last year she imported 1,627,178 tons, most of which came from the north-eastern coalfields. “He says that the developments o£ the past few months have shown that the British mining industry cannot satisfy the increasing demands of the home industry and foreign importers. Inquiries from a number of Scandinavian importers for graded coal are stated to have been refused, and importers who have not got contracts have nad difficulty in obtaining supplies. “As a result coal prices have risen, and at a meeting of importers the opinion was that the coal agreement could not, in the circumstances, be maintained any longer.”