GERMAN DYES IN CHINA

Hokitika Guardian, 22 April 1922, Page 4

GERMAN DYES IN CHINA

LONDON, Feb. 20. “Germany is recovering the dye monopoly in China.” This statement by Lord Xortheliffe to the Colombo, Ceylon, correspondent of the Daily Mail was amplified yesterday by a report of the Clima Section of the Federation of British industries.

Three leading German firms are supplying China merchants with any quantity of dyes they choose to order and not insisting upon the acceptance of the goods when delivered ; in other words they are dumping dyes. They arc helped by the present lowvalue of the mark, and the fact that their “chops,” or trade marks, are well known to the Chinese. British dye manufacturers, the report says, were hampered in 1!'20 by the difficulty of obtaining export licenses; but while the Germans increased their imports into China during the first five months of 1!!21 the British trade also showed some comparative increase over the figures for the previous yea r.

British dyes are gaining a high reputation for quality in China, and, if the competitive German prices could be met, would lead the market. British dye-stuff manufacturers are not surprised at the German dye monopoly in China and the Far East. “Germany,” one of them told a Daily Mail reporter yesterday, “cannot help having such a monopoly when we take into consideration low taxation and subsidised railways'. The monopoly is chiclly due to the depreciation of the mark. Germany is selling at a price far too low for us to compete with.”