248
58
(e) Japan is the largest supplier, her percentage share now being considerably greater than in 1913, and almost three times as large as that of Great Britain.
107. The above figures and comments relate to the total imports of China, which may be roughly divided into two main groups, viz. (a) manufactured goods, and (b) food and raw material, etc. Group (a) manufactured goods-accounts for 39 per cent. of the total, and group (b)-food and raw material-for nearly half the total. To illustrate the relative importance of the several items comprised in the import trade, the following tables are given :—
DETAILS OF IMPORTS INTO CHINA IN 1929.
Showing division of :-
(a) Manufactured goods, and
(b) Food, Raw Materials, etc.
A.
Manufactured Goods.
Per cent. of Total Imports.
13.8
3.5
2.7
2.7
1.6
.2
1
1.8
2.4
1.1
2.6
Metals and Minerals
Per cent, of above Manufactured Goods to Total
5.6
39.0
Cotton Goods
Woollen Goods
Chemicals
Paper
Cigarettes
Soap
Silk and Artificial Silk Goods
Hemp, etc. goods
Machinery
Cotton Yarn
Dyes and Pigments
59
108. It is not possible with exactitude to allocate the remaining 11.8 per cent. of the total imports as between the two groups. If, however, this remainder is equally divided between the two groups, the result is 45.9 per cent. for manufactured goods and 54.1 per cent. for food, raw materials, etc.
Great Britain's share in imports of food and raw materials is negligible. The imports in 1929 of sugar, raw cotton, wheat and flour, rice or other cereals, timber and tobacco, together amounted to £60 million. Other import items not produced in Great Britain amounted to some £30 million. There is thus the very considerable sum of approximately £90 million in the import trade of China for goods which we do not produce. This leaves a figure of £78 million for the import trade into China of manufactured goods, and in the supply of almost all of these Great Britain should share to a much greater extent than she now does.
IMPORTS OF MANUFACTURED GOODS.
109. A very significant and disturbing fact, however, is that, despite the large increase since the war of the imports of manufac- tured goods into China, the total value of wholly or mainly manu- factured goods supplied by Great Britain to China direct was actually lower in 1929 than in 1913. The figures are :—
EXPORTS FROM GREAT BRITAIN OF WHOLLY OR MAINLY MANUFACTURED ARTICLES DIRECT TO CHINA.
1913
1929
---
£ 13,091,357 12,931,747
Ruby 9
B.
Food, Raw Materials, etc.
Per cent. of
Total Imports.
Sugar
Raw Cotton
Rice
Mineral Oil
Other Oils, Gums, etc.
Tobacco
7.8
7.2
4.7
4.4
2.5
2.1
Flour
5
Cereals
3.5
Fish
2
Coal
1.5
Timber
2.2
Animal Products
1
Kerosene
4.3
Per cent. of above Food and Raw Materials to Total
48.2
To the above should be added the exports from Great Britain of wholly or mainly manufactured goods to Hongkong in the same years, viz.:
1913 1929
ச
3,926,064
5,457,972
Thus the total export trade from Great Britain to China and Hongkong together in wholly or mainly manufactured articles was, in 1913, £17,017,421, and in 1929, £18,389,719.
110. These figures show a slight increase in the recorded value of British trade in manufactured goods with China and Hongkong as one market, but indicate a very serious drop in the volume of Great Britain's trade in these goods with that market, having regard to the substantially higher level of prices in 1929. The general rise in prices above the pre-war level, tends to obscure the facts. We therefore give in the following table the recorded values of British exports of wholly or mainly manufactured goods to China (including Hongkong) in the years 1913, 1924, 1928 and