A456
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:
CANTON
I
exhibiting any symptoms of the recovery that might have been expected to accrue from such a normally favourable factor as an untroubled country-side. The following are the value statistics recorded for the various trade accounts. of this great South China market during the year under review, with compara- tive figures for the preceding year: direct foreign imports, 33.8 million dollars as against 62 million in 1933; coastwise importations of Chinese merchandise, 87.4 million dollars as against 110.1 million; direct exports to foreign countries, 47.1 million dollars as against 58.4 million; and, coastwise exportations of Chinese merchandise, 23.2 million dollars as against 26 million dollars. Thus, decreases are shown to the extent of 45 per cent., 21 per cent., 19 per cent., and 11 per cent. respectively for the sections of trade for which statistics are available. While it is true that these statistics do not cover the whole trade of the port in that much of the foreign section is credited to Kowloon and much of the coastwise section is carried by junks not under Customs control, 'a glances at the statistics for Kowloon (see the special explanation for the increase in exports at this particular port) and the other ports in Kwangtung will show that the data given above is probably a fair enough guide to the general trend of trade at Canton during the year under review. It would to be clear, there- fore, that the provincial government is meeting with success in carrying out its policy of restricting imports from abroad; and that, while the same govern- ment's entry into trade under its Three-year Industrial Plan is proceeding steadily, with results that cannot vet be foreseen in their entirety, private enterprise is unable in the meantime to make headway against the competitive prices ruling in markets abroad and the financial stringency which is handi- capping efforts at home. A case in point is the outward trade in silk, for which the records reveal only a very slight quantitative decrease, from 16,362 quintals in 1933 to 16,183 quintals in the year under review, but a very heavy decrease in value from 16,6 million to 9.1 million dollars. Strenuous efforts are being made to resuscitate this industry upon which so much of the prosperity of the province used to depend. The silk filature built by the provincial government to serve as a model is working well, and practical demonstrations and lectures on modern sericultural methods are being given in various parts of the pro- vince, but the financial assistance necessary to a wholesale reconstruction of the industry is lacking at the present time. As only the lower-grade Cantor silks (the least profitable) are now able to find a market, production is rapidly decreasing and large tracts of land formerly given over for the cultivation of. mulberry trees are now being turned into sugar cane plantations, paddy fields, or orchards. Prices for the three leading export qualities were quoted in January at $460, 370, and $340 respectively per bale; and by May, quotations had receded to 390, $290, and $260 per bale. At this level, however, buyers were attracted, but it was not till near the end of the year that the demand began to have an effect on prices, which then rose to $400, $325, and $310 for the classifications of silk in question. A reference has been made already to the provincial government's Three-year Industrial Plan which was instituted during 1933, a plan which indicates a marked drift towards governmental ownership of industry and a possible modification thereby of the whole economic situation in the province. The "plan" provided for the establishment of 24 different plants for the local manufacture of such commodities as have been the principal items of import into the province in the past. The original scheme has been departed from in a few particulars, but 22 factories are already func- tioning or are under construction, and these consist of: two plants for the manufacture of cement; four for the refining of sugar; one for the reeling of silk; one for the weaving of silk; two for generating electric power (one of these being a hydro-electric plant); and one each for the manufacture, respec- tively, of woollen goods, caustic soda, phosphorus fertiliser, nitrogen fertiliser, sulphuric acid, paper, iron and steel, alcohol, beer, cotton yarn, linen, and charcoal water-gas engines. To prevent competition with the government- manufactured sugar, the importation, distribution, and transport of all supplies of this commodity is now strictly controlled by an official sales organisation.