A390
FOOCHOW
have stopped running since the Sino-Japanese war, the ships plying between the ports of Fukien and other ports are mostly British-owned. In spite of the unstable situation, the Provincial Government is doing its utmost to improve the tea, timber and paper trade. Bureaux for control of methods of production of timber and paper, and then sale, have been established. Foochow and its ad- joining districts, had very rich harvests in 1938.
TRADE IN 1939
While the year 1939 has certainly not been a satisfactory one for Foochow, the statistics of trade show a smaller decrease than might have been anticipated, but this is almost entirely due to the flourishing state of trade during the first quarter of the year. A general uneasiness prevailed throughout the district during the entire year as a result of intermittent air raids. During the first few months of the year Chüanchow continued to attract a certain amount of the trade which had previously gone through Amoy. This, however, declined steadily throughout the latter months of the year due to hostile action, although in the latter half of the year, as a result of the blockading of Foochow and Chuanchow, vessels were cleared in increasing numbers from Shanghai under Inland Waters Steam Navigation Regulations to various places along the Fukien coast open to inland trade without interference. Local trading conditions were unsettled, and during the first months of the year cover for remittances to both Shanghai and Hongkong was extremely difficult to obtain, Banks restricted their loans to commercial enterprises, and consequently merchants were under the necessity of confining their trading to immediate requirements.....The Provincial Government, perforce, also had to continue the curtailment of its reconstruction programme. However, with the object of encouraging trade, Government bureaux continued to control the marketing of several of the principal commodities of the district, notably tea, matches, paper, etc., and, after the closure of the port, to control and develop existing overland transportation routes. The crops in the northern districts were good, a healthy sign, and while purchasing power was maintained through remittance from abroad, it showed no improvement. Prices remained generally steady during the early part of the year when trade was booming, but in the latter half of the year these rose to unprecedented heights due to the cessation of trade and dislocation of normal routes of transportation, to the foreign exchange control regulations which were rigidly enforced on goods going abroad and to occupied ports, and to the embargo placed on certain goods from abroad and from occupied ports. The trade figures were as follows: direct foreign imports, $7 million in 1939 as against $6.9 million in 1938; direct exports abroad, $4.6 million in 1939 as compared with $5.3 million in 1938; domestic imports, $19.6 million as against $17 million in 1938 and $21 million in 1937; and domestie exports; $17 million as compared with $16.9 million in 1938 and $17.6 inillion in 1937. The low rate of the national dollar, the local campaign for economic sufficiency by eschewing the more expensive foreign articles in favour of their native counterparts, the closing of the port and dislocation of transportation routes, the hostilities, embargo, and foreign exchange regulations all combined to affect the quantity of direct foreign imports; thus direct foreign imports of cotton piece goods, cotton yann, coal, metals and minerals, molasses, sugar, and sugar candy became negligible. Direct imports of sulphur black, however, showed an increase from 61 quintals in 1938 to 527 quintals in 1939, the increased demand being due to the expansion of the local cotton piece goods industry. Direct imports of sulphate of ammonia approximated the 1938. figures with a weight of 48,641 quintals as compared with 46,298 quintals in 1938. Importations of kerosene oil appreciated slightly from 3,573,791 litres in 1938 to 4,418,709 litres, while importations of gasólene, mineral luoricating oil, and liquid fuel all registered substantial decreases, due not only to the factors enumerated above, but also to the destruction of many of the highways with resultant reduction in vehicular traffic and to the successful operation of vehicles, launches, and machinery with firewood and charcoal. Thus, gasolene dropped from 2,425,532 litres in 1938 to 1,824,256 litres in 1939, mineral lubricating oil declined from 402,482 to 241,974 litres, liquid fuel from 3,005 to 2,600 metric tons. Tinned plates decreased approximately 20 per cent owing to the removal of the tea market to Hongkong. Imports of wheat flour decreased from 22,681 to 298 quintals. This figure was offset, however, by the great increase registered in the coastwise trade in this commodity, due, no doubt, to the rehabilitation of factories in the occupied areas. Direct importations of rice increased from 13,962 quintals in 1938 to 35,981 quintals in 1939.
.
!
!
!
Page 630Page 631