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68.
Mr. Jordan quoted the production indices for various
individual items all of which showed significant increases.
He
wondered whether these figures showed that rather than domestic
production being forced out of the 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. manufacturer
who had managed to keep in production by changing to the
production of rainbow-coloured and deep-dyed shirts. Although
U.S. producers were being forced into a different sector of the
market by competitive imports, the respite thus secured would only
be temporary if imports caught up with the particular style in
the higher price bracket and then undersold it.
70.
Mr. 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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