Directory_and_Chronicle_1933 — Page 604

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

542

TSINGTAO (KIÁOCHAU)

groundnuts, tobacco, beans, wheat, fruit and vegetables. An increasingly important feature of the port is the expansion in the cotton-spinning industry. The imports of foreign raw cotton for the year increased by 103,000 piculs to meet the demand from the mills, and the total imports of this raw material, valued at 16 million Haikwan taels, now take first place in the statistics of the port's foreign imports. Imports of American cotton amounted to 229,000 piculs, while India contributed 121,000 piculs. The total output of the local mills for 1931 is put at 660,000 piculs of cotton yarn and 2,900,000 pieces of shirtings, sheetings, and jeans, valued at $80,000,000. The local mills now operate 3,928 looms and 381,874 spindles, as against 1,200 looms and 240,148 spindles in 1928. These mills specialise, however, in the grey varieties of cotton piece goods, and the import trade in white, dyed, and printed cottons is still very im- portant, as is shown by the following comparative value figures for the year under review: grey, Hk. Tls. 348,470; white or dyed, Hk. Tls. 4,848,799; printed, Hk. Tls. 1,680,669. The requirements of the mills have given a great impetus to the local cultivation of cotton, and as the profits to be derived from cotton-growing are almost double those realisable from cereals, the production of the latter in Shantung is now more inadequate than ever: thus imports of foreign cereals (including wheat flour) during the year amounted in value to Hk. Tls. 3,600,294 and imports of native cereals (including wheat flour) to Hk. Tls. 5,348,591.

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The net value of the trade of the port coming under the cognisance of the Chinese Maritime Customs was Hk Tls. 218,275,187. for 1931 as compared with Hk. Tls. 185,818,036 in 1930 and Hk. Tls. 166,801,328 in 1929..

Directory_and_Chronicle_1933 — Page 604

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