CANTON
A439
$297, $260, and $235, the lowest level on record The fall in the price of silver during the last quarter of the year brought new life to the trade, and prices jumped in November to Hongkong $610, $500, and $465. These prices dropped appreciably on dealers unloading, but by the end of the year had firmed to $610, $490, and $460 respectively per bale, with every indication of improved future business. Experiments: in growing imported sugar cane with a higher sugar content than the local variety are proving successful, and the production of sugar cane during 1936 is expected to be more than double that of the year under review. The casa market provided by the provincial sugar centrals to cane farmers has brought millions of dollars into the cane-growing districts and promises to make good in some measure the losses occasioned by the decline of the silk industry. In 1935 the new centrals produced some 8.500 tons of refined Java-type sugar from cane and some 7,500 tons from imported raw sugar. Official estimates place the pro- duction in 1936 of the five centrals now in operation at Canton at 42,000 tons of refined sugar. The year has also seen the completion of a number of factories, but the conditions under which the "three-year plan" has been carried out have been so severe that it has been found necessary to formulate a second "three-year plan" in order that the original programme way be fully completed and the various infant industries placed on a sound financial basis. The quiet but steady progress which the Government, under great difficulties, have made assisted in placing the province in a much improved position vis-a-vis world competition. Private industrial enterprise not embraced by the Governmental plan is growing steadily in strength, and numerous machine shops are profitably turning out metal products and various electrical machine parts. The fall in the exchange during the latter half of the year has placed an entirely different aspect on trade conditions. Merchants are now able to compete in world markets and at the same time earn a good income. This is reflected throughout the province, and profits are again appearing for farmers. A feature of the year was the further penetration of the market by Japanese and Belgian goods, and by low-priced domestic goods from Shanghai. The Japanese hold a predominent position in the cheaper articles, such as electrical fittings, nails, wire, galvanized sheets, and common printing paper, and Belgium has succeeded in dominat ing the metal market. Points of interest are the increased production of tin, the additional land placed under fruit and rice cultivation by the military authorities and Chinese returned from abroad, and the growing importance of Canton as an air terminus.
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