Directory_and_Chronicle_1908 — Page 728

CHINA

639

"Cigarettes and cigars of foreign provenance increased in value from Hk. The. 4,734,579 to Hk. Tls. 6,254,862, concurrently with a large increase in the home manufacture of cigarettes by machinery.

"Aniline dyes in general were almost unchanged in value. Synthetic indigo was doubled, increasing from 36,420 piculs, value Hk. Tls. 1,726,198, to 73,848 piculs, valued at Hk. Tls. 3,180,171; natural indigo, mainly Chinese produce re-imported from Hongkong, fell from 75,691 piculs, value Hk. Tls. 384,991, to 56,983 piculs, valued at Hk. Tls. 281,318. Other natural dyes were little changed.

"Flour shows a very considerable increase, from 931,761 to 1,784,681 piens (4,759,149 bags), of which the northern, Yangtze, and central ports took 40 per cent., and the southern ports, 60 per cent. As the southern ports draw their supplies from Hongkong, it is not possible to determine to what extent Australia has gained a footing in the market; two years ago, it is known, all foreign flour came from America.

"Kerosene oil fell from 153,471,831 to 128 687,690 gallons, a reduction of 24,784,141 gallons. This is not a gauge of reduced consumption, since stocks have been proportionately reduced; stocks at Shanghai, 13 millon gallons at the end of 1904, rose to 28 million at the end of 1905, and fell again to 134 million at the end of 1906; those at Hankow, another important distributing centre, fell from 11 million gallons at the end of 1905 to 3 million at the end of 1906.

"Machinery shows small change at Hk. Tls. 5,730,221, of which 54 per cent. was imported at Shanghai and 14 per cent. at Hankow. Railway plant increased from Hk. Tls. 7,346,739 to Hk. Tls. 11,439,806, of which 38 per cent. was imported at Tientsin, 42 per cent at Hankow, 12 per cent. at Shanghai, 3 per cent. at Kiaochow, and 24 per cent. at Canton. This was in addition to 15,000 tons of rails.

"Sugar increased from 4,620,675 to 6,545,742 pieuls, of which no more than 173,295 piculs can have been Chinese sugar re-imported from Hongkong. The increase was general in all kinds, brown, white, refined, and candy.

"The progressive advance in the importation of foreign sugar is shown in the following figures of the number of piculs imported in the last six years;-

1901

2,564,787

1902

4.173,222

1903

1904

1905

3,202,980 3,747,563 4,620,675

1906 6,545,742

"The transit of Formosa tea at Amoy continues to fall off, the re-export in the last few years having been as follows:-

แ

1902

Piculs...............143,896

1904

101,761

1905

96,061

1906

85,809

Erports.—The total value of all exports was Hk. Tls. 236,456,739, which was Hk Tls. 8,568,542 or 3.6 per cent. more than in 1905, but was still 3 million taels less than 1904.

"Tea shipments increased in value over a million taels, to Hk Tls. 26,629,630 The export of leaf, 808,094 piculs, was less than in 1905, 37,847 piculs in weight and Tk. Tls. 1,169,687 in value: brick and tablet, 596,034 piculs, were more by 72,677 piculs

in weight and Hk. Tls. 2,353,665 in value. This illustrates a tendency which has been observed in recent years; exports of leaf, for the consumption of Western peoples, are less in quantity year by year, the reduction in the Customs duty in 1902 having done no more than arrest the decline, and their value is less in an even greater degree; while supplies of brick tea, for the consumption of the peoples of Central Asia, steadily increase in quantity and, to a still greater degree in value. It is to be observed that shipments of leaf declared for Great Britain fell from 287,365 piculs, including much that is known to have gone elsewhere, to 87.270 piculs; feaf for the United States fell from 179,557 to 151,622 piculs; leaf declared for European ports, excluding Russia, rose from 58,510 to 69.242 piculs; and, declared for the Russian Empire, leaf rose from 144,554 to 345,501 piculs, and brick tea Pose from 445,964 to 584,385 piculs. As will be seen, the declared demand for Russia is the most considerable, constituting nearly a half of the leaf and practically all the brick tea exported from China; but I have no particulars of the proportion of the Russian consumption which comes from this country The proportion supplied by China of the consumption in the United Kingdom and the United States is as follows:-

Digized by Google