Directory_and_Chronicle_1925 — Page 645

CHINA

581

Mr. J. W. H. Ferguson, Statistical Secretary of the Chinese Customs, in his annual report on the Trade of China says, inter alia:-

In spite of the still unsettled state of the country, the foreign trade of China in 1923 was valued at Hk. Tls. 1,676,320,303, which represents an increase of Hk. Tls. 76,378,720 over the preceding year's total. The revenue collected by the Maritime Customs offices also exceeded the 1922 total, the increment in this case being Hk. Tls. 4,870,001. The value of imports declined by about 22 million taels, but exports increased by nearly 100 million taels. These figures speak for themselves. They prove abundantly that, notwithstanding all appearances to the contrary, China's trade is still forging ahead and that the export trade has done well even though adverse circumstances impede free transportation of merchandise in the inland districts. The total value of net imports, .e., gross imports less re-exports of foreign produce to foreign countries, amounted to Hk Tls. 923,402,887, and the aggregate value of exports of Chinese produce abroad totalled Hk. Tls. 752,917,416.

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The net foreign imports into China during 1923. . work out at £160,633,627 or £16,563,182 less than the 1922 total. While, therefore, the decrease in Haikwan tael values for 1923 amounts to some 2-3 per cent., the sterling equivalent shows a drop of roughly 10 per cent. in 1923 as compared with the preceding year. This apparent amount is, of course, explained by the difference in the sterling exchange at which the tael figures were converted, the average for 1922 being 3s. 9d. and for 1923 only 3s. 5 d. Besides bearing in mind the vagaries of exchange, it is necessary when considering the value of China's trade and comparing with each other the statistics of the various years, to remember that, owing to the important fluctuations in the price levels in the producing centres of inost articles imported, there is no longer that relation between total values and the volume of trade which one had become accustomed to before the war. A decrease in the aggregate value of a certain group of articles, for instance, does not necessarily mean a smaller turnover, neither is it safe to conclude from enhanced values that the importation of the goods in question has grown.

The total value of Chinese produce exported abroad during 1923 was equivalent to £130,976,259, as against £122,792,237. The increase in the tael value was as much as 98 million taels. That the sterling equivalent shows only an advance of some cight million pounds must be ascribed to the difference in the exchange, which renders all values useless for purposes of accurate comparison.

The total importation of yarn into China in 1923 amounted to 775,045 piculs, which arrived principally from Japan (405,615 piculs) and British India (39,025 piculs). This represents an important reduction as compared with the preceding year's figures, when the aggregate importation came to 1,219,486 piculs, out of which 697,163 and 68,003 piculs came from Japan and India respectively. Chinese yarn, the product of local mills, on the other hand, increased in consumption-according to a local market report-by as much as 1,305,000 piculs. This would seem to point to the probability that the days of foreign yarn in the markets of China are numbered and that importa- tions from abroad will decrease as the product of the Shanghai mills increases.

A notable feature of the general engineering and machinery business in China during 1923 was the closing and discontinuance on the part of a goodly number of foreign firms of their machinery departments, added to their general trading business during the post-War boom period, which under the present circumstances have become too heavy a charge on their financial resources.

The demand for electrical fittings and accessories is reported to have been not far from normal. Competition was keen between the various nationals to secure the lamp trade of China, for which there would appear to be a great future. Price-cutting under these circumstances became inevitable and has now proceeded to such an extent that lamps can probably be purchased cheaper in China than anywhere else in the world, a recent wholesale quotation being as low as Mex. $12.50 per 100 for standard drawn-wire lamps. The total value of electrical materials and fittings imported into China from abroad contracted from 9.4 million taels in 1922 to 8.1 million taels in the following year. The principal countries of origin in 1923 were Japan (Hk. Tls. 2,495,131), Germany (Hk. Tls. 2,064,119), America (Hk. Tls. 1,322,002), Great Britain (Hk. Tls. 1,244,519), Belgium (Hk. Tls. 232,707), and the Netherlands (Hk. Tls. 219,062). It is gratifying to note that the International Committee for the Improvement of Sericulture in China, which was established in Shanghai at the end of 1917, continues. to do good work and is forging ahead steadily. The fifth annual report issued by this Committee proved interesting reading. The aim of the Committee is to eliminate the disease from which the Chinese silkworm suffers and which is reported to carry off a El large percentage of the worms before they reach the spinning age. The Chinese-

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