640
CHINA
1904
1905
1906
1,943,165
82,860
49,942
2,025,750
42,533
43
25
21
United Kingdom :
From all sources . From China.....
Per cent.
......Piculs 1,924,950
"
United States:
From all sources..
From China*
Per cent.
··
.Piculs
800,931
725,843
670,784
345,572 43.1
291,106
247,162
40.1
37.0
11
"Silk and its products contributed to the total export trade of the year a sum of Hk. Tls. 71,295,525, being 30 per cent. of all exports, a sum a million taels more than in 1905. White raw silk, native reelings, which had fallen from 34,238 piculs in 1904 to 24,270 piculs in 1905, recovered to 27,224 piculs in 1906, the gain accruing entirely to Shanghai; and white filatures, which had fallen from 47,287 piculs in 1904 to 45,347 piculs in 1905, made a small recovery to 45,821 piculs in 1906, the gain accruing entirely to Canton. Yellow silk gained 10 per cent,, wild silk was unaltered, and waste silk lost 15 per cent. The cold wet spring reduced the first two crops at Canton by about 6,000 piculs, reduced the output in Chekiang by 40 per cent. and injured the quality, and reduced the production in Kiangsu by about 20 per cent. The trade struggled against the usual want of care in production, against adverse climatic conditions, and against the disadvantage of a steadily rising ex- change; improved prices in Western markets in the autumn, however, not only enabled the difference from exchange to be met, but, by allowing even higher silver prices to be offered, brought out for export quantities greater than the conditions in China would of themselves have warranted, and swept the markets almost bare. In the export of all kinds of silk and its products, China compares with Japan as follows:-
1904
.Hk. Tls. 78,255,412 95,300,000
1905 70,393,833
77,180.000
1906
71,295,525
China.... Japan...
98,722,000
The comparative figures for woven silks, including those mixed with cotton, were as follows:-
China. Japan...
1904.
11
Hk. Tls. 12,568,110 31,406,000
1905. 10,779,731 24,070,000
1906
10,859,464
26,061,000
“On the whole the exports of Chinese produce have shown no great development- Exchange was a factor adverse to exports, and, had the situation been created solely by increased demand for silver, both quantities and values of exports would have been reduced from this cause alone; being influenced also by increased supplies, i.e., by depreciation of gold, the gold prices in Western markets were also generally increased, and a greater volume of supplies was drawn from a sluggish market.
"Shipping. The tommage entered and cleared was 75,819,888 tons, an increase of 3,064,341 tons, or 4 per cent.; steam tonnage increased, while sailing-vessel tonnage was less. British shipping (33,450,560 tons) was less both in actual tonnage and in percentage of the whole (48 per cent in 1905 and 44 in 1906). German shipping (7,477,518 tons) was also less in tonnage and in percentage, so too was that under the Norwegian flag, which had temporarily profited from the previous state of war, The tonnage under the French flag (3,125,749 tons) was nearly double the tonnage in 1905, an increase due mainly to the frequent entries of some fine steamers placed on the Yangtze, Japanese shipping has profited by the restoration of peace, and the tonnage (11,376,430 tons) was 15 per cent. of the whole, against 14 in 1903 and 8 in 1905. The Russian flag has not yet resumed its ante bellum position; and American tommage remains in its place, just under 2 per cent. Chinese steam tonnage continued its increase to 12,212,373 tons, but the tonnage of junks coming under the Maritime Customs regulations fell to 3,974,378; the two together contributed 21.35 per cent. to the tonnage of the year.
46
Treasure. The import of treasure was Hk. Tls. 26,434,082, and the export, Hk. Tls. 41,185,788. Gold was imported, almost entirely in the shape of coin from Japan, to a value of Hk. Tis. 7,006,516; the greater part of this is at once melted into bars in Shanghai, and of the total import lose on 4 million taels, remained in: the country.
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