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Within the different sectors major changes are already taking shape at the beginning of the new year, but in exports these mainly centre on the sale of knitted fabrics and clothing abroad, Earnings from shipments of knitted goods in the two months at £2,793,000 were double the 1968 level of £1,363,000. Clothing exports also gained ground, being worth £12,256,000 against £9,870,000.
Little change occurred in shipments of yarn or cloth either by volume or value. Man-made fibre yarn exports were still favour- able at 24,076,000 lb., valued at £9,740,000 against 23,661,000 lb.,
worth £8,342,000. Shipments of cotton yarn, however, although Larger by weight at 2,998,000 lb. against 2,674,000 lb., failed to achieve the 1968 value at £1,733,000 against £1,801,000.
Cotton cloth exports were virtually unaltered at 24,970,000 yards against 25,114,000 yards, the respective values being £4,775,000 against £4,399,000. Man-made fibre cloth shipments were 12,770,000 yards against 12,499,000 yards, earning £3,765,000 against £3,396,000.
Grey Cloth Imports Cut.
Imports of individual items in the textile field showed big changes compared with 1968. Notably arrivals of cotton grey cloth in the first two months of the year were down from 110,275,000 yards to 68,938,000 yards, their cost being £5,318,000 against £7,307,000. While the import deposit scheme has certainly had an offect on this trade, borrowings from 1969 quotas by certain exporters abroad has also varied the pattern.
Arrivals of cotton grey cloth from India, although increasing in February, were sharply curtailed over the first two months of the year. Arrivals totalled 15,502,000 yards against 39,657,000 yards in the same period of 1968. In contrast, shipments from Pakistan increased from 10, 406,000 yards to 14,124,000 yards, but those from Hong Kong fell from 16,816,000 yards to 10,959,000 yards.
A marked cut in arrivals of unbleached cotton fabric from China was evident during January and February when supplies were down from 14,857,000 yards to 6,990,000 yards. Shipments from Canada foll from 5,884,000 yards to 3,434,000 yards, while those from Portugal were reduced from 6,218,000 yards to 4,139,000 yards.
Imports of finished cotton cloth were also lower in the two months, the quantity absorbed being 26, 107,000 yards worth £5,003,000 against 31,726,000 yards in. 1968 valued at £5,804,000. The quantity of foreign man-made fibre cloth reaching British ports, after rising rapidly in recent years, remained unchanged in the first two months of 1969 at 26,852,000 yards against 26,247,000 yards, the cost being £5,981,000 against £5,977,000.
In knitted fabrics the value of imports continued to rise, being £1,496,000 over the two months against £1,120,000. Clothing imports showed a similar trend, costing £20,386,000 against £18,627,000 in the first two months last year.
COTTON FUTURES AGAIN.
Among the commercial innovators of Britain must be counted the Liverpool cotton traders who established the original futures market for any commodity more than a century ago. Their ingenuity has now led to the launching of a new contract for cotton futures, the first ever to be quoted in American dollars for delivery in Western Europe.
This latest venture, which is to start on May 19, although under the aegis of the Liverpool Cotton Association, will be carried out at the London Commodity Exchange - yet another example of the changing face of textiles. Since the resuscitation of cotton futures trading more than 15 years ago, after war-time and post-war control,