YEAR’S OVERSEAS TRADE

Taranaki Daily News, 30 January 1930, Page 2

YEAR’S OVERSEAS TRADE

VALUE CLOSE TO RECORD EXPORTS TOTAL £55,579,063. BALANCE EXCEEDS £6,38'0,000. An apparent favourable balance of £6,381,086 is shown by the returns of Ne / Zealand’s overseas trade in 1929, which were issued by the Customs Department in Wellington on Saturday. The valuation of exports was £55,579,063, which is less by £609,418 than the previous year's total, while imports increased by £4,311,711 to £49,197,977. The returns for December show exports valued at £4,576,170, which is . £192,852 more than in December, 1928. Imports were entered at a total of £4,384,239, an increase of £961,630. .The month’s excess of exports was £191,931, as against £960,709, RETURNS FOR LAST DECADE. Owing to the small contraction during the past year, the valuation of exports in 1928 stands as the record. It was £56,188,481, which is £926,209 more than the previous record of 1925. The record excess of exports over imports belongs to 1919, when the surplus was £23,298,377 but that year’s trade was abnormal due mainly to war conditions, produce which had accumulated during the period of hostilities being then shipped. The great post-war slump followed, New Zealand’s trade in 1920 showing an excess of imports of £15,153,882. The following table shows, for the last nine years, the exports and the imports and the trade balance:— Year. Exports. Imports 11 " Balance.I%’i .. £ 44,82 s £42,042,443 £1,886,384 1922 .. 42,726,24-9 35,012,561 7,713,688 1923 '.. 45,967,165 43,3(78,493 2,588,672 1921 .. 52,612,711 48,527,603 4,085,108 1925 .. 55,262,272 52,456,407 2,805,865 1926 .. 45,275,575 49,889,56-3 *4,613,988 1927, ... 48,4-96,354 44,782,946 3,713,408 1928 .. 56,188,481 44,886,266 11,302,215 1'929 .. 55,5'79,063 49,197,977 6,381,086 Totals £446,936,607 411,074,259 35,86'2,438 ♦Excess of Imports In 1926, FLUCTUATIONS IN TRADE. The table shows that following the abnormalities of 1919 and 1920 a return to more normal • conditions occurred in 1921 and 1922. Increases in both exports and imports were made in the next three years, but in 1926 the Dominion suffered a check, due to a worldwide fall in prices. The result is seen in the fall of over £12,000,000 in the value of the total trade and in an unfavour-. able balance of over £4,500,000. In 1927 New Zealand recovered, the exports being worth nearly £3,000,000 more and the import being down by over £5,000,000. The recovery was consolidated in 1928 by a remarkable increase in exports, while imports were still rigorously curtailed. Last year exports were maintained at almost the same level as in 1928 and there was a moderate expansion of imports. , ; ’ : TOTAL EXTERNAL TRADE. The aggregate valuation of the trade in 1929 was £104,777,040, which is the third hightest in the Dominion’s history. The record of £108,037,774 was established in 1920, when manufacturers in other countries, particularly Great Brittain, filled orders which had accumulated during the war years. These imports, which were valued, at £01,595,828, were responsible for the record and also for creating a record unfavourable trade balance of £15,153,882. With a total trade of £107,718, 670 the year 1925 was a close rival of 1920 for first place, but that year the Dominion came out on the credit side, the exports exceeding the imports by £2/805,&G5, Fourth position is held by 1924, when the total was £101,140,314 and exports exceeded imports by £4,085,108.