762
CHINA
Out;
but prices in the foreign markets were low, and there was but a slight increase, of some 800 piculs, in the export of white and yellow raw silk. Demand in the United States did not come up to expectation, notwithstanding generally improved trade conditions in that country; while the Japan crop was so large that, as I am informed, a considerable part of it was shipped to the United States on consignment. Prices were thus kept down. Japan has advanced rapidly as an exporter of raw silk in recent years, her shipments in 1905 having been 72,000 piculs, and in 1909 131,000 piculs, or nearly double. The salient feature of the silk trade in 1999 was, however, the export of filatures and pongees manufactured at Chefoo from cocoons of the Manchurian wild silkworm supplied by Antung, Takushan, and other places. The shipments of cocoons from Antung alone to Chefoo totalled 121,000 piculs and were effected at prices which rose during the year to double the figure ruling in the autumn of 1908. About as much again was received at Chefoo from other Manchurian ports. Chefoo in turn sent out, for ultimate shipment abroad, 14,000 piculs of wild raw silk, 10,000 piculs of waste silk, and large quantities of inferior pongees-all products of the Manchurian cocoon. Shantung pongees have become important to several modern industries, so that the export has increased to 10,655 piculs, from 6,247 piculs in 1908, while the value per picul has risen 40 per cent. The decrease of some 81,000 piculs in the total export of tea is due mainly to a reduced demand for common black teas, which in turn is at- tributed to the abundant supply from India and Ceylon of the inferior teas used in cheap mixtures. This feature of the trade is reflected in the average value of black tea exported, which was over Tls. 3 higher per picul in 1909 than in 1 08, China appears to have no speciality in the production of common teas, and her distance from the European consumer would, even in the absence of taxation at home, place her at a grave disadvantage in this competition. The future of the China tea trade rests with the finer qualities, which so far have not been imitat d elsewhere. These finer China teas were much in request in the London market during 1909, and it is stated that the supply was hardly equal to the demand. The export of tea to the chief European countries was reduced all round. That to the United States was slightly larger, as there was an increase of 20,000 pieuls in green tea to set against a decline of 17,000 piculs in black. Raw cotton, in spite of a short crop, was purchased for Japan in rather larger quantity and at much higher prices than in the preceding year, the average value showing an advance of Tls, 6 per picul. The export of matting from the Canton district was adversely affected by a pending question as to the rate of duty in the United States, but the point has been settled satisfactorily and a better business in this article is looked for. Among mining products, coal and pig iron, though as yet attaining but small totals, show signs of development. 196,000 tons of coal, chiefly from the Kaiping and Fushun mines, went to Hongkong, Japan, Korea, the Straits, and British India, as compared with 28,000 tons exported in 1908. The increase in the ex- ports of Hankow pig iron is less marked, but its interest lies in the fact, reported in the London “Times," that cargoes of this metal, described as of a high grade, were imported at Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco, where the low exchange enabled it to compete successfully. Grain was exported to Russia through ports on the land frontier to the value of 2.26 million taels, and shipments on a much smaller scale took place by special permission at South Manchurian ports, chiefly at Dairen. The figures of grain export åre included under the heading of provisions, which also includes the value of frozen provisions, amounting to Hk. Tls. 660,000, exported from Hankow, Shipments of sesamum seed from Hankow to the continent of Europe, still increasing, amounted to 2,153,00 + piculs, and the cultivation of the seed is being extended to meet the demand. Brown sugar, for which Swatow has always been the principal port, shows no sign of revival as an export abroad. The fibre originating in the Kiukiang district, hitherto incorrectly called "hemp," has for 1909 been classified as ramie, with the result that there is a large apparent increase in the exports of ramie and a corresponding failing off in the exports of hemp. In reality there has been a slight decrease in the shipments abroad of both kinds. Undressed hides of the cow and buffalo, exported chiefly from Hankow and Chungking, show an increased value of 2 million taels, while the ex- port of undresssed goat skins, mainly from Tientsin and Hankow, and a large pro- portion of which are destined for the United States, was greater by 1.7 million pieces, valued at 1.4 million taels. In sheep's wool, almost all exported from Tientsin and consumed in the United States, there is an increase of 117,000 piculs, valued at 3.1 million taels.
Shipping. --The total entries and clearances-208,516 vessels, 86,771,809 tons - give an increase of 911 vessels and 2.78 million tons. The Japanese flag marks an increase of 900,000 tons, which, substantial though it be, indicates a considerably lower rate of
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