Directory_and_Chronicle_1941 — Page 238

A4

CHINA

no agreement being arrival at. The Dalai Lama visited Peiping in 1921 and was received in audience by President Hsu Shih-chang.

FOREIGN TRADE IN 1939

VALUE OF TRADE

The net value of the foreign trade of China for the years 1937 to 1939 is given in the following table:

NET VALUE OF THE FOREIGN TRADE OF CHINA, 1937-39

Imports Exports

Total

Excess of Imports

1937. Million $ Million $

1938.

1939.

Million $

953

886

1,334

838

763

1,027

1,791

1,649

2,361

115

123

307

It will be seen from the above that the net value of the trade of China, import and export, expressed in terms of standard dollars, was for the year 1939 $2,361 million as compared with $1,649 million during 1938. Imports increased from $886 million to $1,334 million, an increase of 50 per cent, with exports also increasing in value from $763 million to $1,027 million, an increase of 35 per cent.

Of total gross imports valued in dollars at $1,343 million, it is of interest to note that 43.79 per cent was centered at Shanghai, 25.66 per cent at Tientsin, 9.01 per cent at Tsingtao and 5.39 per cent at Chinwangtao, while the share of Japan Proper in the import trade amounted to 23.34 per cent and that of the United States of America to 15.94 per cent.

The following table illustrates the adverse balance of trade in standard dollars during the past 30 years since 1910:

NET VALUE OF THE FOREIGN TRADE OF CHINA LESS THE MANCHURIAN TRADE

WITH ABROAD, 1910-39

Adverse Imports. Exports. Balance of

Trade. Million $ Million $ Million $

Year.

Year.

Adverse Imports. Exports. Balance of

Trade, Million Million $ Million $

1910.

1911..

649

503

146

1925....

1,242 876

366

650

482

168

1926...

1,473

934

539

1912.....

644

485

159

1927.

1,298

980

318

1913....

788

523

265

1928.

1,530

1,047

483

1914.

780 449

331

1929....

1,620

1,070

550

1915.

619

546

73

1930...

1,723

944

779

1916.

678

612

66

1931.

2,002

915

1,087

1917..

697

570

127

1932.

1,524

569

955

1918...

707

587

120

1933.

1,345

612

733

1919.

785

739

46

1934...

1,030

535

495

1920..

997

614

383

1935...

919

576

343

1921..

1,233

698

535

1936

941

706

235

1922..

1,234

764

520

1937.

953

838

115

1923.

1,251

868

383

1938.

886

763

123

1924.

1,389 878

511

1939.

1,334

1,027

307

As will be seen, the adverse bala ce amounted to $307 million, Chinese exports as percentage of imports declining from 86.12 per cent in 1938 to 76.99 per cent in 1939. While, however, the value of imports increased, this increase was to some extent offset by the higher valuation of exports owing to the increase in prices following on the fall in exchange. As in former years, the adverse balance for 1939 of $307 million may rightly be reduced by $17.4 million of export duty, which should be added to the outward statistics to obtain the true f.o.b. value of the: export trade.