BRITISH TRADE

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20433, 25 February 1938, Page 6

BRITISH TRADE

British imports last year exceeded £1,000,000,000, an increase of £180,000,000 on the previous year. The figures demonstrate clearly the immense value of British markets to the exporting countries. Producers in foreign lands have been able to dispose of a further £104,000,000 worth of goods and raw materials and the purchasing power represented by these exports must have been of material assistance. A market that could absorb foreign products to the value of £620,000,000 in a year must be able to play a vital part in the direction of world trade. There, was. of course, a much larger visible adverse balance, but it has been estimated that British shipping earned a much greater revenue and that other invisible exports would do a great deal to effect a balance. Many loading economists have urged that, at this stage. Great Britain should not place too much importance on the trade balance. No small portion of the increaseed imports was raw materials, necessary for the manufacturing idustries, and the credits thus created played a part in stimulating exports. The aggregates would have been much higher had it not been for a recession in the United States in the latter half of 1037, which created a degree of uncertainty. Commenting on this fact “Industrial Britain” said: “The recession in the United States has obscured the immediate outlook, but while full allowance must be made for possible consequences of any accentuation of this development, there appears to be no fundamental reason for expecting a major deterioration in the economic situation in Great Britain in the near future.” The steady expansion of the export trade could be advanced as evidence that the re-armament programme had not been implemented in a manner that would injure trade. Practically all the chief items of export last year showed substantial gains. They were not back to pre-depression levels, but they did show a marked improvement. The exports often taken as forming a good indicator, coal and cotton goods, both moved upward and it was estimated that the increase in coal production would reach 15,000,000 tons for the year. Given a period of political stability world trade should revive, and the British leaders evidently place great importance on the completion of a trade agreement with the United States as providing a basis for “a further expansion of the international exchange of goods.”