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102
Gaited States consumed no less than 1,130,000. The centre of the trade is the district of Shizuoka.
B.
JAPANESE COMPETITION IN COTTON TEXTILES IN EASTERN MARKETS.
The export trade of Japan has increased from 20,000,000, or approximately 95. head of the population, in 1900, to 64,000,0001., or roughly 24s. per head of the population, in 1913.
per
The following table gives the values of the principal groups of articles exported in the latter year :—
1913.
Articles.
£
Beverages and comestibles.
6,217,500
Clothing and accessories
2,643,900
Drugs, chemicals, dyes and paints
1,400,000
Ores, metals, minerals, and manufactures thereof
6,061,900
Oil and waxes -
715,400
Paper and paper manufactures
554,800
Skins, hair, fur, &c.
334,000
Silk
25,306,200
Cotton
11,791,100
Wool
Cigarettes and tobacco
Miscellaneous
115,200
57,400
9,066,746
Re-exports
299,500
Grand total
64,563,646
It will be remarked that 57 per cent. of the total exports consist of textile goods. Silk manufactures thereof contributed 39 per cent., and cotton textiles 18 per cent. Inasmuch as Japanese competition in cotton textiles is the greatest menace which British manufacturers will have to face after the war in Eastern markets, it is considered advisable to deal at some length with the question. Japanese silks compete in the United Kingdom market, which in 1913 imported :-
Spun silk yarna
Silk piece goods (habutae)
20,0007. 1,076,3137.
The increasing competition of spun silk yarus from Japan since the war is beginning to be felt in this country, and appears likely to deal a very serious blow at the British spinning industry, and, as the Japanese are constantly improving the quality and evenness of their spinnings, and are at the same time putting in considerable extensions to their plant, the combination of quality, quantity, and low prices is likely to enable them to capture our home market. Japanese yarns are sold in the United Kingdom at from 10 to 20 per cent. lower than the home production. The difference between the British and the Japanese rates of labour represents about Is. per lb. The qualities at first were uneven, but they are rapidly improving. The counts imported are usually 60's to 80's. Inasmuch as it takes 24 lbs. of silk waste to produce 1 lb. of yarn, the Japanese have a considerable advantage over the British spinners, the bulk of whose waste silk is imported from Japan and China.
Japanese plain silk piece goods or habutae have held the home market for some years, and have successfully competed with the more expensive though more durable white silk pongees imported from China.
It is in cotton textiles, however, that Japan is likely to prove the most serious competitor in the near future, particularly in India and the Far Eastern markets, and the expert evidence received by the Textiles Committee entirely confirme this view.
India. Japanese competition in India in the past has been very slight, and has baen mainly confined to cotton hosiery. The relative position of the United Kingdom and Japan in the Indian market in 1913 will be seen at a glance from the following figures:--
103
Cotton Yarns.
Of which Imported from
Imported from all Sources.
United Kingdom,
Japan,
£ 3,036,000
£ 2,605,000
£ 93,000
Cotton Piece Goods,
Of which Imported from
Imported from all Sources.
United Kingdom,
Japan.
£ 36,544,000
£ 118,000
$ 38,758,000
It will be remarked that the predominant position of British goods was practically unchallenged. The outbreak of war, with consequent high prices and reduced output in Lancashire, has given Japan her opportunity, and Japanese competition is now regarded as a serious menace, not so much as regards the quantity of her exports to India- although these are on a commercial scale as of the wide range of goods in which she is competing, which includes not only yarns and grey goods, but bleached, dyed and printed fabrics. Prices are on a very low scale--in the case of 40's yarn per cent. lower than the Lancashire article, and at the present time the extent of the competition appears only to be limited by the available machinery and capital in Japan. It is uncertain whether the Japanese will be able to maintain their position when the end of the war restores normal conditions in Great Britain. The com- petition will, in any case, remain a serious menace. So far, Japanese manufacturers appear to have confined themselves to imitating existing fabrics, and have not initiated any new lines. Competition, therefore, has been limited to price.
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The secret of Japanese success would appear to be close co-operation of all interests concerned, viz., the Government, banks, shipping companies, merchants, and manufacturers.
Japan purchases very large quantities of Indian cotton, her takings during the season 1913-14 amounting to 1,210,000 bales of 392 lbs. nett, valued at over 14,000,000l. The buying of this cotton in India is mainly conducted by Messrs. Mitsui & Co., the leading mercantile house in Japan, with enormous interests in the textile and other industries of the country. This firm now has its cotton-buying agents all over India, and therefore is in possession of the nucleus of an excellent distributing organisation for manufactured goods. Subsidised steamers ply between India and Japan, and freights are maintained at a low level. The Yokohama Specie Bank and the Bank of Taiwan are established at Bombay and Calcutta, and are prepared to further the interests of their Japanese cliente by providing adequate financial facilities. Japanese official commercial agents are active in India in securing information, advertising their country's products, and assisting their nationals in every possible way. Official questionnaires have been distributed in the bazaars to dealers in British goods, inviting information as to their special requirements, the Japanese Government in return pledging itself to see that Japanese manufacturers do their utmost to carry out the wishes and suggestions expressed. An authentic copy of one of these documents will be found in the appendix to this Section.
The great assets of Japan are low costs of production and distribution, solidarity of all interests for the furtherance of trade, and a highly protective system applying both to shipping and industry. Her producing capacity at present is limited by her capital and machinery, but the war is giving her an opportunity to accumulate the former, and she relies upon British textile merchants to supply the latter.
From the evidence heard before the Textiles Committee, and as a result of my own investigations, I am much impressed with the real danger of Japanese competition in the future, and consider that in order to meet it, British capital and labour will have to combine to secure the maximum output possible, both from our operatives and from
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