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712
CHINA
pared with shipments in 1909, was about 12,000 piculs, or 24 per cent, Of this increase, Canton claims two-thirds, new uses for Canton silk having been found both in Europe and the United States. There was a good crop of tea, and exports show an increase of 62,000 piculs. Certain changes in the proportions shipped direct to different countries are noticeable. Great Britain took 35,500 piculs, or 46 per cent., more black tea, than in 1909. The United States took 37,945 piculs, or 42 per cent, less black ten, and 27,675 piculs, or 23 per cent., less green tea, making, for these two kinds, a decrease of 65,620 piculs, or 31 per cent., of which 20,000 piculs were made good, according to the Japanese statistics, by larger importations from Japan. Russian Pacific ports took 27,685 picul less black tea and 32,000 piculs more brick tea, the total shipments to Russia by all routes showing an increase of 57,000 piculs, or 6.2 per cent. Various causes operated to bring about the large decrease of 34 million piculs in the exportation of beans. The greater part of the decrease (2,125,000 piculs) occurred at Shanghai and Yangtze ports, and here the high prices arising from the scarcity of foodstuffs and the native demand for beancake were the determining factors. The Manchurian export, by sea and through fromier stations, was only 1,293,00 piculs less than in 1909, and for this differ- ence the short crop of 1909 might go far to account; while the high prices prevailing, the rise in exchange towards the end of the year, and the caution engendered in exporters by numerous breaches of contract to deliver were also not without effect. Although the crop of native cotton in 1909 was a poor one, the demand from Japan was such that exportations abroad of this product rose to 1,247,000 piculs in 1910, or double the total shipments of the previous year. In consequence of this foreign demand, local supplies were dearer and more heavily watered than ever before, and mills were obliged to have recourse to Indian cotton, An interesting feature i the increasing share taken by North China in the production of cotton. Shipments from Tientsin, both to native and foreign ports, in 1910 amounted to 125,000 piculs, or five times the quantity shipped in 1909, a result with which the world-scarcity of cotton had no doubt something to do, but which must be attributed in great part to the official measures taken to en- courage the cultivation of cotton in North China. Another article of which the export was nearly doubled during the year was vegatable oil, comprising bean, groun- nut, and castor oil from Manchuria; ground-nut, tea, and wood oil from Kwangtung and Kwangsi; and all kinds from the Yangtze. The shipments of oil abroad from Manchuria increased by about 190 per cent.; from Kwangtung and Kwangsi, about 90 per cent.; and from the Yangtze, about 60 per cent. Of ground-nuts, 752,0 0 piculs went abroad, as compared with 307,000 piculs in 1909, and nearly 70 per cent, of the whole export was from Kiaochow. Of sésamum seed, the trade centre of which is Hankow, but which is increasingly produced in Manchuria and North China, the export was larger by 577,000 piculs, or 27 per cent. The infant trade in pig iron and steel from the Hanyang Ironworks continues to grow. Some 63,70 · tons were exported, as against some 37,600 tons in 1909. The statistics of Japan show that 31.000 tons were imported into that country from China in 1910, and the bulk of the remainder went to the Pacific Coast of America. The exports of Hankow iron ore show a similar advance 130,000 tons as against 88,000 tons in the preceding year, and were also destined mainly for Japan and the United States. Coal, chiefly from the Kaiping and Fushun mines, rainie and undressed skins and hides all show increase. The large decrease of 142, 00 piculs in the export of sheep's wool is attributed at Tientsin to an overstocked market in the United States, the shipments of the previous year having been large.
hipping.-The total entries and clearances show an increase of 11,294 vessels and 2 million tons, chiefly under the Chinese and Russian flags. In general, other flags show but little change, though it may be noted that, after many years of continuous advance, the tonnage under the Japanese flag has slightly decreased in 1910.
Balance of Trade. The continued growth of the export trade has further reduced the difference between the value of imports (c.i.f. value) and exports abroad (fo.b value) to 21.50 per cent., as compared with 23.50 per cent. in 1909. The balance of trade, on the basis of available figures, is as follows:-
Liabilities.
A.-Value of merchandise imported in 191" B.Net import of treasure to commercial area C.--Loans and indemnities
D.-Invisyble liabilities (estimate of 1909)..
Total
Hk.Tls. 462,964,894
11
18,081,579
51.600,000
>>
33,350,000
.Hk.Tls. 565,996,473