All countries have sustained heavy losses in their Chinese business, with Japan the chief sufferer, having been practically eliminated from the trade South and Central China, As indicated by the table, Chinese imports, fell off more heavily than did exports, both recovering somewhat in the later months from the lowest levels reached Just after the outbreak of hostilities, That the decreases in trade were not greater was partly because of a shift. {ng of business through unobstructed, ports, as evidenced by the figures for Hongkong elted in the table, "and. partly (in the case of exports) be-'Cause port stocks of some commodities re fairly heavy, permitting shipments to continue for a time not with.
"Pinance & Commerce", indicates, the shift of trade between the various ports in the period July to October, Comme Toe Br Pre. Ros oer en gee ces Wea Paah Mere rely, ade 1 a eat standing disrupted communications eel ne St ae, With the Interior. In the case of ime tet ko tena aeons ports, the better movement reported, ore aaa anne ore in November and December seems to Feet wane have been due in part at least to ravier Fellef shipments into Sh and gradual arrival of goods other ports pending cessation of fighting in this are According to the January 19 tse of "Finance Commerce" (Shanghai), "There has been no sign of any new business (in Shanghai) inward of outward, since Benes August, and there Is little prospect of any until the Yangtze delta is again opened to normal trate."
Imports deed our imports from China, tung all ranks first in point of value, contributing some 25 per cent of the total in 1936. While military operations along the Yangtze River have impeded shipments from Hankow, the Centre' of the producing area, ways have been found from time to time. to get substantial quantities to tidewater, which, following heavy exports fof tung all to this country just prior to the outbreak of Aghting, have prevented the development' of a Shortage of this important drying ai! of which China has practically a world Monopoly, The Importation of wolframite ore (tungsten base), of Which China is the world's leading producer and which is mined in the Southern provinces and shipped via Canton, has been maintained and supplies are likely to be ample. Shipments of antimony, on the other hand, another important Chinese pro-duet'mined in the Central Yangtze region, have practically ceased account of the blockade.
Serious as the consequences have been to the foreign trade. the destruction of property and blocking of {ransportation. facilities have been even. more disastrous to. the vast Internal trade plying between the agricultural and raw material producing interior and the industrial reas located largely along the coast. Except at Canton in" the South, cotton manufacturing has been. the important manufacturing activity, and. Shanghai in particular has frown into one of the leading cotton textile centres of the world. Up to} the present time the Tsingtao and Shanghai areas have suffered the greatest losses, the damage to phy-Sical property in Shanghai alone having been estimated at between sPmincteat, Cutmuse fseromts Axo Exrorss (000.000
Exports 'Among' our exports to China, Enemas, mineral lls, machinery, motor Vehicles and airplanes have held better than most other products. The destruction of large stocks of fuel cured leaf tobacco in Shanghai, for which China was qur second largest market for: years, has resulted in some APE products (hides, furs replacement orders, and more of our Sis™tandar eae. Shes wheat and flour may go to China be-cotise of the blocking of food supplies Sie out etter tus {om the interiors The following table CEE oan shows the trade of various groups of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.