Directory_and_Chronicle_1910 — Page 712

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CHINA

same total value, were much reduced in quantity. Metals, with a total value of over 22 million taels, as against 20 million in 1907, show an all round increase in quantity, the principal exceptions being iron sheets and plates, old iron, and tinned plates. Copper ingots and slabs increased by 66,000 piculs, and went chiefly to provincial minting centres. In the total value of sundries there is a decline of 19 million taels, shared by most of the leading articles; but again this figure is far from being an accurate measure of the decline in volume. Among leading sundries, kerosene oil is the only one which has conspicuously increased in quantity, and of this commodity 186 millon gallons were imported, against 161 million gallons in 1907. Increases of over 26 million gallons in American oil, of over 2 million gallons in Russian oil, and of over 43 million gallons in Sumatra oil, are partly offset by a fall of some 8 million gallons in the Borneo product. Foodstuffs have been much reduced in volume, but less markedly in value. The importa- tions of flour amounted to 1,756,000 piculs, valued at Hk. Tls. 6,931,000, and of rice to 6,736,000 piculs, valued at Hk. Tls. 26,579,000; the corresponding figures for 1907 being: Flour, 4,414.000 piculs, value Hk. Tls. 14,000,000; and rice, 12,765,000 piculs, value Hk. Tis. 34,417,000. A decline of 1,562,000 piculs in sugar, not apparently made up for by increas ed movements of the native article, would seem to indicate a smaller margin for luxuries, as would also the fall of 50 per cent. in the importations of clocks and watches, and the fall of over 40 per cent. in household stores. Building materials, cement, and timber are all noticeably reduced. Of railway materials, Dairen took the principal share Hk. Tls. 5,800,000,-while smaller quantities went to Tientsin, Hankow, Chin- kiang, Shanghai, Canton, and Mengtze. The whole, valued at about 13 million taels, was slightly in excess of importations in 1907. Needles were reduced in quantity by more than half. The importations of Formosa tea at Amoy are again less, but this trade is not yet absolutely extinct. All the leading countries of origin shared in the decline of imports with the exception of the United States and Russia.

"Exports.-The value of exports abroad was Hk. Tls. 276,660,403, and the increase, as compared with the value in 1907, was 12 million taels. The exportation of tea- 1,576,136 piculs-was well maintained and shows, as compared with the exceptionally high figures of 1907, a decrease of only 34,000 piculs. The season was not, however, generally profitable. Kiukiang black and green teas appear to have done moderately well, but from Foochow it is reported that the shippers on commission alone benefited by the year's trade. The low exchange gave an undue impetus to shipments, and there is reason to fear that the stocks of China tea carried over from 1908, both in the United Kingdom and Russia, may block operations in the coming season. 969,493 piculs of leaf and 590,815 piculs of brick were exported, as compared with 973,075 and 604,226 piculs, respectively, in the preceding year. Shipments to Great Britain declined from 157,000 to 118,000 piculs, and to Russia from 989,000 to 965,000 piculs. Other European countries took 119,600 piculs, that is, 28,000 piculs more than in 1907, and the United States, India, and Canada took somewhat larger supplies. Silk prices were reduced to a low level in the first quarter of the year, and stocks were large; but a smaller world crop in 1908 and better conditions in the United States enabled stocks to be cleared off, raised prices, and greatly improved the position of the trade before the year's close. Of white silk, native reelings, the export rose from 28,556 to 31,926 piculs, but steam filatures declined from 50,296 to 49,206 piculs, owing to short supplies from Canton, where successive climatic disasters reduced the crop to a lower figure than has been seen for many years. Wild silk advanced from 23,806 to 34,148 piculs. The cultivation of the oak-feeding silkworm in Manchuria is extending, and is reported to be capable of indefinite expansion to meet the demand for pongees. The trade in beans and beancake attained to figures hitherto undreamt of. Beans were exported abroad to the amount of 4,770,000 piculs, and while they went chiefly to Japan, there were also shipments from Hankow and Dairen, totalling some 500,000 piculs, to England, where it is stated that they were in demand for the manufacture of oil. It seems probable, however, that the English demand for Chinese beans owed much to the combination of bumper crops

and low sterling exchange, a combination which does not often occur in the same degree.

Shipping. Entries and clearances totalled 207,605 steamers, sailing vessels,

and junks and the falling off, as compared with the figures for 1907, of 10,327, was due to the smaller number of junks recorded at Mengtze, Kowloon, and Shanghai. The total tonnage-83,991,289 tons-was, nevertheless, once more the largest on record, showing an increase of 3,881,865 tons. At Dairen there was an addition of 1,389,000 tons, at the Yangtze ports an addition of 2,787,000 tons. Tonnage under the British flag increased by 1,089,000, and, with a total of 34,405,761 tons, was 41 per cent. of the whole; while the Japanese flag, with a total of 18,055,138, or 21.5 per cent. of the whole, shows a gain of 2,456,925 tons, of which 1,103,000 tons were added at Dairen.

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French shipping

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