Shortage of Material in Manchuria Holds Up Production There; Market Now Wide Open Tokyo, May 5.
The military authorities in Central China are backing a scheme of the Cotton Industrial Federation for moving to the Chinese continent a large group of the Federation's small and medium-sized spinning companies, it is learned.
The movement has been prompted by the difficulties of small spinners in Japan since the banning of the domestic consumption of cotton goods, and the banning of exports of the same goods to countries of the yen bloc. At the same time, there is said to be on the continent a huge unfilled demand for low-grade cotton goods and many Japanese fear that the demand may soon be filled by foreigners if prompt action is not taken by Japanese firms to make the best of that opportunity.
It is believed that the plan may work better than similar plans for transportation of cotton firms to North China and Manchuria, as raw cotton will be available in' Central China, whereas there is a growing shortage of that raw material in North China and Manchoukuo. The shortage has become so acute in these areas, according to the "Asahi," that Japanese-owned companies in Tientsin have been forced to curtail production by 60 per cent, factories in Tsingtao by 50 per cent.
Because of the high prices at which cotton goods are selling however, these firms are still able to set along nicely, the "Asahi" says.—Havas.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.