ENG-1953 — Page 21

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT, 1953

Trade with the mainland of China over the whole year slightly exceeded the volume of such trade for 1952 as regards both imports and exports. Although exports for the first four months of the year improved by $206 million (£13 million), they declined again from May onwards and over the year were still $1,000 million (£63 million) less than for either 1950 or 1951.

The result of this decline was that during 1953, 80% of the Colony's export trade was necessarily with countries other than China. But even these alternative markets became increasingly subject to restrictions. Indonesia and Thailand, which had been among the Colony's best customers during 1952, during 1953 felt the effect of the ending of the boom in such raw materials as rubber, tin, rice and sugar, which are their principal exports, and were forced to impose restrictions on imports from Hong Kong in order to conserve foreign exchange for the purchase of capital goods from the west. A complete ban on such imports was imposed by Indonesia in May, and only partially relaxed in November and December. Thailand also imposed extensive restrictions in November, and this position is unlikely to be altered for the better, at least until the position as regards the 1954 rice crop is clear.

The mainland of China continues to be, by a substantial margin, the Colony's chief source of supply of imports. $857 million (£54 million) worth of goods was imported from China during 1953 as compared with $474 million (£30 million) from the United Kingdom and $384 million (£24 million) from Japan. Thailand, the United States of America and Malaya in that order are the other principal sources. At the end of 1952, restrictions had to be imposed on imports from Japan as a result of mounting unfavourable trade balances throughout the year, but by the end of 1953, it was possible to lift all such restrictions except those on re-exports of Japanese goods through Hong Kong to certain parts of the sterling area.

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