Export Credit Policies For £lm

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31080, 8 June 1966, Page 3

Export Credit Policies For £lm

(A’.Z. Press Association)

WELLINGTON, June 7. The recently-estab-lished Export Guarantee Office issued 27 policies in 1965 at a face value of £1,044,150.

“Considering the prelimary work which each contract entails, the number of contracts actually completed was satisfactory.” said the office’s annual report and tabled in

Parliament today. “Much of the year’s work will show productive results during 1966 and later years.”

Although the face \alue of the policies issued was £1,044,150, the value of insured exports as declared at last December 31 had reached only £288,642. This was because most of the policies were arranged late in the year and provided for declarations to be made in the month after shipment. In 1966, the value of insured exports under the policies issued in 1965 would be substantially greater. There would also be a considerably larger number of new policies with a very much greater face value under which declarations would be made. Commodities represented in. the insured exports for 1965 and the percentage of each to the total were: wool 9.5 per cent, meat 0.7, other primary produce 42.5, textiles and apparel 4.2, machinery and metal products 25.3. and other manufactured goods 17.8. The destinations of these

insured exports and the percentage for each destination to the total were: Australia 50 per cent, Western Europe 16.2, South-east and East Asia 13.8, Pacific Islands 11.6, North America 4.0, and Africa 4.4 No claims were paid during 1965. One overdue payment was reported before December 31, a default by a buyer which was likely to result in a claim payment in 1966. The introduction of export credit insurance had given exporters an opportunity to trade with buyers in countries where, in the past, the New Zealand exporter was not prepared to run the risk of incurring losses through giving credit, said the report. There also was a marked trend for overseas buyers to seek credit for business which previously they had been prepared to purchase under letter-of-credit terms, and in other cases for longer terms of credit than had been sought. The report said any marked changes towards trading in

.less secure maraeis or towards making credit terms longer would have the effect of increasing the average premium rate.