In view of the record established by the Customs revenue in 1928 it is natural to expect a corresponding fnerease in the value of China's trade; nor are expectations. disappointed. The total value of trade (excluding treasure) rose from Hk. Tls. 1,981,651,286 to Hk. Tls. 2,187,- 24,259; imports advanced from Hk. is. 1,012,031,624 to Hk. Tls. 1,195, 969,271 and exports from Hk. Ti 918,619,002 to Hk. Tls. 991,254,988, an advance amounting to' 18' per ent. in the former and per cent. in the Intter case. The value of the Haikwan tael improved from 2s. 942d. to 25, Led. in 1928, and when this fact is taken into consideration will be found that, on a sterling basis, the advance in' imports acta-_ ally amounts to some 22 per cent.
Tt will be sufficient to say here! that the increase of imports was mainly due to the replenishment of exhausted stocks and to the anticipat tion of tariff increases, while the export values would undoubtedly have been higher had-not the trade been handicapped by such factors as high prices and, in many cases indifferent quality, which had their} inevitable effect on demand. The adverse balance of trade according: ly roxe from 94.3 million taels in 1927 to 204.6 million taels in 1928.
Much has been upon this subject of China's: adverse balance, that is, the excess of imports over exports, and it will therefore be of interest to examine the position, which is less serious than the above figures would indicate. The following facts are of interest:—(1) progress in imports has not been constant—on the contrary, it has undergone considerable fluctuations from the year 1923, rising and falling in alternate years; (2) the course of exports, if less spectacular, reveals an uninterrupted advance after the year 1920.
'The natural consequence of such' conditions is particularly evident from the year 1924 onwards: it amounts to this, that while exports] steadily maintained their upward course, it was only in a lean year! that any satisfactory reduction of balance could be recorded. "Apart from this fact the adverse balance of 1928 is in no way remarkable when compared with other years on recor. But the most important fact is that China's export trade is steadily growing, and when it is remembered that conditions, in 1928)—high costs of production, communications only partly restored, and fighting in North Chins—were far from favourable to export business, it is clear that as the [country returns to its normal life a jernble increase in exports may
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.