Purchasing Worthless Tax "Privileges": Customs Red Tape: Shanghai Manufacturer's Costly Experience Chinese factory products under exiting conditions ewxnot compete Homotona, Manila and Stngapore. Ens ist considered opinion a tnsontd trader" dered from Ins recent Crperionse been Einsuaise forte Came. Shonghel, manajactrer ox th scone send. which altempé ne Rad "coeryasosiance "ud "ouvods tnfitence: posites tu" sie of the: nereeelgty aaeee Bae China's foreign trade and. is poss te Dearing on the silver situation the following' narrative, giving" th acts of the restrictions and other dipneulties putin the vay of the local manufacturer, wil be valuable end opportune.
Following up these considerations, the relation of import duties fo this particular situation is discussed and exemptes given as to. th {it 20° many respects.
'Chinese produ: are wnable' to. meet. pric som Europe, America end other countries in Asia Can the products of Shar tories be sold abroad?
This is @ pertinent question and one to which there must be a satisfactory answer if Shanghai ts not to be in the position of ts citizens taking in one another's. washing. Recently a Shanghai trader of long experience tried the experiment of attempting to market the manufactures of Shanghhal factories in port cities of Asia, He obtained the representation of the goods of no fewer than #4 Chinese factories with a range totalling more than 150 products. "Me was in close touch with official and trade organisations interested in the promot tion of trade, and from them had, many directions, valuable collabora tion and assistance. 'The size of the ask involved in. obtaining contact with so many manufacturers, inspect= ing their goods, discarding some, accepting others, teaching' factory owners how to display them advan-rageously, may well be imagined. was costly both In time and money and the net result to date is virally nil, Chinese factory products under present conditions cannot compete in Hongkong, Manila and Singapore.
"Privilege" Regul This opinion is not based on suppositions but on first hand ex: Derfences, some of them disillusion Ing, and as such are of value. The trader doesn't claim that he is infallible "in his understanding some of the situations that he met Dut he does claim that he spent energy, time and intelligence in-an effort to find out all details, but it remained for him to proceed to his experiment for the full difficulties of the situation to be found out.
As a first step, when the possibility of trading in the products of Chinese factories abroad. was contemplated, it was recognised that under a govern-yentai policy which demanded export tax of 74 per cent. plus sur" charges, approximating a total of 85 assi attempt to sell the goods it would probably be im=
Of Shanghai factories except. those Which were within the "Privileged" category, able to claim it was assum~ fed exemption from export tax, cordingly, in seeking products to market, approach was first-made to dories registered with the idovernment and listed in a Inted Hist, (price 50 cents) as being privileged" and whose products are displayed in the recently acclaimed demonstration in the Shanghai Customs House. Since the range of these products was not suMeiently wide, the trader sought to induce other manufacturers to register with the Government and thus obtain what he hoped would prove a tangible price
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.