The International Materials Conference

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 84, Issue 4, 15 April 1952, Page 259

The International Materials Conference

SINCE the end of the Second World War, and the changeover from the making of munitions to civilian goods, the world’s capacity for manufacturing prov duction has outstripped the supply of raw materials. The rapid increase in industrial production in the United States of America and in Western Europe alone in 1950 would probably have caused a big drain on supplies, but recently these shortages have become aggravated by the demand for enormous . quantities of raw materials for defence purposes. Though many countries, in attempts to control demand, imposed restrictions on the use of scarce commodities, it became obvious in 1950 that international control was necessary if equitable distribution of world supplies were to be achieved and the forcing of prices up to exorbitant levpls prevented.

To meet this situation the Governments of the United States, Britain, and France set out to establish international machinery to control scarce raw materials entering into world trade. The outcome was the setting up of the International Materials Conference, with headquarters at Washington, U.S.A. ■

The Conference was organised on the basis of a Central Group with ten members Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Italy, Britain, and the United States and representatives of the Organisation of American States and of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation. The main function of the Central Group is to maintain a constant watch on all raw materials and where necessary to establish Commodity Committees. These Committees usually comprise representatives of about a dozen of the leading producing and consuming countries concerned in the commodity to be dealt with, due regard being had to geographical coverage.

Up to the present time the following Commodity Committees have been set up: Sulphur, Pulp-Paper, Cotton-Cotton Linters, Wool, Manganese-Nickel-Cobalt, Tungsten-Molybdenum, and Copper-Lead-Zinc. Altogether 27 countries now participate in the work of the Committees. New Zealand is represented on the Sulphur Committee and the Wool Committee. Each Committee lays down its own procedure and makes its own decisions; the Central Group has no overriding authority.

The first task to be undertaken by a Committee is to make a survey of world requirements and supply. Information is collected and distributed on such matters as methods of conservation, the use of substitutes, and steps to increase the supply. In the case of Cotton-Cotton Linters this has proved sufficient. This Committee was set up because of an acute world shortage in 1950, but the 1951 crop improved the world situation to such an extent that international action was not thought to be necessary, although the situation is to be reviewed from time to time. The Wool Committee decided that it was impossible to

obtain agreement on any distribution plan at present, but also decided to keep the situation under review.

In certain cases Committees have found it necessary to draw up allocation schedules. As the sole power of each Committee is to make recommendations to the various Governments, each allocation schedule must perforce be so reasonable that it would be voluntarily accepted; and this is in fact what invariably happens. As New Zealand is vitally concerned with sulphur, which is used in superphosphate manufacture as well as in most other chemical manufacturing processes, a brief outline of the operations of the Sulphur Committee may be of interest. This Committee first made a preliminary survey of world production and consumption, and at the same time instituted a system of questionnaires for completion at the end of each quarter by all participating countries. It then made an interim allocation for the first quarter of 1951, under which New Zealand obtained 13,125 tons of sulphur. Completion of the questionnaires initially caused difficulty in some countries, but as the year 1951 progressed the data gathered by this means became more complete and reliable. A Sub-committee on Distribution, which later came to include all members of the Committee, was then set up to prepare an allocation formula. The formula adopted was amended slightly during the year. All countries were invited to submit their cases both orally and in writing, and most countries did so, before each quarterly allocation was made. Toward the end of 1951 the question of the formula was reopened, and after much discussion and after several other proposals had been rejected, a working party comprising representatives of the U.S.A., Belgium, South Africa, Germany, and Switzerland drew up a new formula which was finally adopted for the first half of 1952, and was later accepted by all Governments, some of them accepting with certain reservations. The truly international atmosphere in the Sulphur Committee, under its Belgian chairman, M. Marcel Feron, is well illustrated by the stands taken by the various representatives on the motion to adopt the 1952 plan of distribution. New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa were among nine countries which recommended to their Governments that the plan be accepted. The United Kingdom, India, and ' three other countries passed the plan to their Governments without recommendation; Australia and Sweden could not recommend acceptance, but submitted the plan to their Governments for consideration.

The International Materials Conference provides a striking illustration of how the countries of the free world, working together in a spirit of true democracy, can and do help each other. The burden imposed by crucial shortages is being shared, so that each country is dealt with fairly and is enabled as far as is humanly possible to meet defence requirements with the minimum dislocation of their civilian economies.

K. J. HOLYOAKE,

Minister of Agriculture.