A4
CHINA
no agreement being arrival at. The Dalai Lama visited Peiping in 1921 and was received in audience by President Hsu Shih-chang.
FOREIGN TRADE IN 1939
VALUE OF TRADE
The net value of the foreign trade of China for the years 1937 to 1939 is given in the following table:
NET VALUE OF THE FOREIGN TRADE OF CHINA, 1937-39
Imports Exports
Total
Excess of Imports
1937. Million $ Million $
1938.
1939.
Million $
953
886
1,334
838
763
1,027
1,791
1,649
2,361
115
123
307
It will be seen from the above that the net value of the trade of China, import and export, expressed in terms of standard dollars, was for the year 1939 $2,361 million as compared with $1,649 million during 1938. Imports increased from $886 million to $1,334 million, an increase of 50 per cent, with exports also increasing in value from $763 million to $1,027 million, an increase of 35 per cent.
Of total gross imports valued in dollars at $1,343 million, it is of interest to note that 43.79 per cent was centered at Shanghai, 25.66 per cent at Tientsin, 9.01 per cent at Tsingtao and 5.39 per cent at Chinwangtao, while the share of Japan Proper in the import trade amounted to 23.34 per cent and that of the United States of America to 15.94 per cent.
The following table illustrates the adverse balance of trade in standard dollars during the past 30 years since 1910:
NET VALUE OF THE FOREIGN TRADE OF CHINA LESS THE MANCHURIAN TRADE
WITH ABROAD, 1910-39
Adverse Imports. Exports. Balance of
Trade. Million $ Million $ Million $
Year.
Year.
Adverse Imports. Exports. Balance of
Trade, Million Million $ Million $
1910.
1911..
649
503
146
1925....
1,242 876
366
650
482
168
1926...
1,473
934
539
1912.....
644
485
159
1927.
1,298
980
318
1913....
788
523
265
1928.
1,530
1,047
483
1914.
780 449
331
1929....
1,620
1,070
550
1915.
619
546
73
1930...
1,723
944
779
1916.
678
612
66
1931.
2,002
915
1,087
1917..
697
570
127
1932.
1,524
569
955
1918...
707
587
120
1933.
1,345
612
733
1919.
785
739
46
1934...
1,030
535
495
1920..
997
614
383
1935...
919
576
343
1921..
1,233
698
535
1936
941
706
235
1922..
1,234
764
520
1937.
953
838
115
1923.
1,251
868
383
1938.
886
763
123
1924.
1,389 878
511
1939.
1,334
1,027
307
As will be seen, the adverse bala ce amounted to $307 million, Chinese exports as percentage of imports declining from 86.12 per cent in 1938 to 76.99 per cent in 1939. While, however, the value of imports increased, this increase was to some extent offset by the higher valuation of exports owing to the increase in prices following on the fall in exchange. As in former years, the adverse balance for 1939 of $307 million may rightly be reduced by $17.4 million of export duty, which should be added to the outward statistics to obtain the true f.o.b. value of the: export trade.