TRADE WITH FAR EAST

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 77, 2 April 1934, Page 10

TRADE WITH FAR EAST

BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON PRESENT TRADING LOP-SIDED DOMINION'S PRODUCTS SUITABLE (By Alexader Tetzner. —No. 11.) Adverting again to Empire trade in the Far East we cannot possibly ignore the tremendous opportunities offering in British India and Ceylon. The population of India, from a point of view of the market potentiality, is estimated to be 318,942,480 inhabitants. 1 ‘There are not less than 35,000,000 people— Indians and Europeans-sufficicntly well-to-do to be potential buyers of New Zealand products,” says Mr. F. G. Wil | liamson. after having spent two years ' in India. “Though there are a largenumber of English and American trade representatives, 1 cannot recall having encountered New Zealand representatives or goods.” The situation in which our trade with India finds itself is certainly calling for prompt action. The balance of commercial relations is so much in favour of India that it is hard to find any other country in the world with which our trade is more unprofitable. For the last 11 months the figures are most astonishing. They are as follows: Ceylon, imports, £405,256; exports, £1463. India, imports, £452,678; exports, £31,712. Here we have a lop-sided accountand an acute adverse balance of trade with an Emprie which (a) offers enormous possibilities for a profitable, marketing of New Zealand goods and demands our produce, (b) constitutes a part of the British Empire; and (c) lies on our way Home, at a half-dis-tance to our London market. New Zealand is fully capable of supplying India with a very considerable quantity of goods, tinned fruits, jams, honey, cheese, tinned milk, sauces, biscuits, meats (lamb, beef, etc.) and butter, to mention only a lew. “Great Market in India.” It is important to note that according to the views of several experts there is a great market in India for dairy produce.’ Mr. A. N. Sanyal, an inspector under the Government of India, stated, for instance, that in India they use butter in a melted form, and that is the way New Zealand would require to export it. Butter is produced in India, but not on a sufficient scale to meet the demand. ‘‘ They make soup of Pulse,” he says, “and into that they put melted butter or •ghee,’ for liquid consumption.” Regarding “ghee” another -authority states that it is sold in three forms in India, cow. buffalo and cow and buffalo. I The Bengal Government’s notiilicatiou of the normal constituents of “gheo” is: the pure clarified milk fat of cow or buffalo, or cow and buffalo, without any addition of extraneous fat or oils. Australia, Britain and Sweden are tlie bulk suppliers of butter to India, while cheese is imported from Netherlands, Britain and Switzerland. Mr. L. Robertson writes: “I am convinced that in India is sufficient demand for butter to swallow up our surplus and thus keep the British market firm.” Lt. Colonel F. L. Harden, arriving in New Zealand only a few weeks ago, has also pointed out that India is a very important market for butter. Such a market as exists in India should not be neglected. Surely the possibility of manufacturing a special product answering the requirements of the Indian market cannot be missed, especially when taking into account the chances of exporting in addition to butter large quantities of cheese and canned milk. The price of butter in India is Is 6d a lb. India requires cheese ranging in weights from 81b, 101 b and 121 b each, also tinned cheese. Wool, tallow, hides, certain manufactured articles, etc., might be marketed in India. Cold Storage Question. The cold storage question, according to Major T. R. Dawe, should not cause much trouble. No difficulty is experienced in handling foodstuffs bought from Britain as refrigerated cargo. There has been an agitation for the erection of cool storage on the wharves at Calcutta, and possibly the enterprise of building up cool stores by the quaysides of Calcutta. Bombay, Karachi and Madras might be worth the attention of New Zealand’s exporters. The coul stores at present are owned privately. Another question is shipping. One steamer, the Narbada, maintains a direct service between New Zealand and Calcutta, and leaves India well laden once every four months. It returns from New Zealand empty, taking instead of ballast, a cargo of Australian coal. The boat has refrigerated space, but nothing is going from us to India. The freights are: General cargo 755, dried or condensed milk (40 c.f.) 60s, cheese refrigerated 140 s, meat 2d per lb, fish 2d per lb. etc. These freight rates are prohibitive, of course. The route via Sydney is more unsatisfactory still. For example, taking a ton of butter (40 boxes) f.o.b. Auckland to Bombay, the freight to Sydney would be 3s per box, freight from Sydney to Bombay ss, transhipment charge 3d a box, in all 8s 3d per box, or double the freight charged on a box of butter from Auckland to London. If butter is consigned to Madras, Calcutta or Burma, it has to be again transhipped at Colombo, which moans that still another freight is added to the cost of transportation. Cheese, dried milk, honey, bacon, ham, etc., are subject to a tariff duty of 25 per cent, ad valorem, which naturally fluctuates with the market value, while butter is assessed at the equivalent of Is 6d a lb, which means a duty of about 4d per lb. Still the price of butter in India appears to be twice the retail value in Britain at the present moment. “The producer here is the man who matters and he cannot carry on forever when his only present market is overfull,” remarks Lt. Colonel A. J. Thompson, an authority for New Zealand, advocating the opening of a market in India. “Everything surely confirms that the market is there. But will it always be there for New Zealand, or will it be taken by others wide awake to the chance that offers?” Is it not the duty of the New Zea land Government to go into the matter af improving facilities for trading with India? This is a matter of Empire trade and as such deserves serious con lt would need a reciprocal treaty with the Government of India and a thorough inquiry into the question of direct shipping. The Minister of Commerce and Industries, the Hon. R. Masters, stated that while he was attending the World Economic Conference in London he endeavoured to negotiate a reciprocal trade treaty between India and New Zealand. The matter was not. yet. completed, but h«> hoped “something would come of it

that would be of benefit to the Doyniniion.” It appears that the opening up of markets for New Zealand produce and products in India and Ceylon is one of urgency, and that concrete steps and definite action is required from private initiative. The change in the food, clothing and life habits of the Eastern peoples are of paramount and immediate interest to us. It requires only an increase in the incomes, by raising the value of silver in India, to enable India to buy our products in enormous quantities, and it must be borne in mind that silver is showing a decidedly rising tendency.