CANADIAN TRADE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 September 1938, Page 7

CANADIAN TRADE

* MANUFACTURING AND OTHER INDUSTRIES. OTTAWA, Canada. Despite a severe decline in business operations in Canada in January and February, the Government index of the physical volume of business averaged only 8.6 per cent lower during the first six months of 1938 than in the same period of the preceding year. The Dominion Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Trade and Commerce reports that the trend was uneven among the different branches of production. Mineral production, for example, showed a gain of 8.2 per cent. The export of copper showed considerable expansion even over the high levels of the first half of 1937. The total in the half year under review was more than 266,000,000 pounds, a gain of about 41 per cent. Nickel exports, on the other hand, were not so heavy as one year ago, the decline having been nearly 13 per cent. The outward movement affected by the depression in the United States was nearly 98.000.000 pounds as compared with nearly 112,000,000 pounds in the first half of 1937. Lead production and zinc exports recorded a gain during the first half of 1938, but prices were at a considerably lower level. The gain in half of 1938 but prices were at a considerably lower level. The gain in gold shipments from Canadian mines was outstanding, amounting to 11.4 per cent, the receipts at the Royal Mint and direct exports amounted to more than 2,200.000 ounces against 1,980,000 ounces in the first half of 1937. Silver shipments showed an increase of nearly 15 per cent, while coal production was not quite maintained. Manufacturing production, while 3.8 per cent higher than in 1926 (the base year for current indices), was nearly 14 per cent lower than in the first half of 1937. The forestry industry was adversely affected by declining demand in external markets, while the operations of the primary iron and steel industry were comparatively well 1 maintained.