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market it was in fact being forced up into a different price
bracket where it was competing effectively with imports.
69.
Mr. Bodner cited the case of a big U.S. manu-
facturer who had managed to keep in production by changing
to the production of rainbow-coloured shirts. Although
U.S. producers were being forced into a different sector
of the market by competitive imports, the respite thus
secured was only temporary until imports caught up with
the particular style in the higher price bracket and then
undersold it.
70.
Kr. Stewart said there had been a lot of talk
about penetration by imports but was it not true that U.S.
cuttings of dress shirts and blouses had increased by 10%
in 1968? Mr. Nehmer gave figures for cuttings of dress
shirts which showed an increase from 11.3 million dozen in
1967 to 12.3 million dozen in 1968. Sport shirt cuttings
on the other hand had decreased from 31.3 million dozen
in 1967 to 30.7 million dozen in 1968. Imports in any
case had increased at a much faster rate. Mr. Stewart
observed that this showed imports had cut into consumption,
not into production.
71.
Mr. Schiff thought a more impressive picture
of the state of production could be achieved by visualising
the production index in chart form. There would be a
general flattening out of the production curve for
/apparel
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