N.Z. INDUSTRIES

Hokitika Guardian, 4 February 1930, Page 8

N.Z. INDUSTRIES

DEPARTMENTAL BULLETIN

The following extracts are taken from the latest bulletin (N 0.4) issued by the New Zealand Department ot Industries and Commerce: —

APPLES.

Dealing with the market for apples in Hong-Kong and South China, the bulletin says that importers and deal ers are reluctant to place orders for a product that they have not hithert( handled. For this reason exporters should be prepared to ship small tria orders on consignment to ' importers who~are interested in doing business in this commodity and through whom good results could reasonably be expected. Once the product base beeonu fairly well known, it should no longei be necessary to forward on consignment, nor would this be asked by local importers.

ARTIFICIAL SILK

Referring to the artifical silk industry in Japan, the bulletin says that the progress of the artificial silk industry in Japan is clearly denionstrat cd by the continued increase in domes tic production side by side with a remarkable shrinkage of imports. There is even an increasing tendency towards an export trade, although the figures involved are still insignificant. In common with the less satisfactory situation abroad, quotations during recent months have continued to decline owing to lessened .demand, depression in the textile industry, and competition , among manufacturers. At present eleven firms are producing artificial silk, the capitalisation rising from only ; 2,805,000 yen in 1923 to 75,105,000 yen at the end of 1927. The total capital invested in the industry up to early in the year 1929 is estimated at 90,000,000 yen. The financial results of artificial silk companies have generally been satisfactory. The average profit rate of the five leading companies was 5.4 per cent, for the first half of 1927 and 14.1 per cent, for the last half of 1928.

CO-OPERATIVE MARKETING OF DAIRY PRODUCTS.

Dairy farmers are more extensively organised into marketing associations i than any other agricultural commodi group in the United States. On January Ist, 1920, 2479 dairy associations with 600,000 members were listed with the Division of Co-operative Marketing of the United States Department o' Agriculture. The Department list includes 1600 co-operative creameries, 40 milk-bargaining associations, 119 wholesale and retail milk-distributing associations, approximately 650 cooperative cheese factories, and about) 70 miscellaneous associations. The aggregate volume of business of the dairy associations reporting to the Department in 1928 was 640,000,000 dollars. This is more than five times the value of the products handled by dairy organisations in 1915.

FOOTWEAR PRODUCT! ON

The total production of footwear for New Zealand for the year ended .March 31st, 1929 (the latest year for which statistics are available), was 1,370,699 pairs, consisting of 1,251,442 pairs of j adults’ boots and shoes, 7731 pairs of I slippers, and 111,526 pairs of children’s boots and shoes. The total number of employees engaged in the industry dur- • ing the same period was 2293, and the number of establishments was 74. The number of persons engaged for the previous year ended .March 31st, 1928, was 2338, and the number of establishments was 81. The production of footwear totalled 1,453,938 pairs, comprising 1,311,665 pairs of adult’s boots and shoes, 7922 pairs of slippers, and 134,I 35] pairs of children’s boots and shoes. I The latest detailed statistics' availI able regarding the production of hoot : and shoe factories in Australia are for I the year 19267-27. The number oif fac- | tories in operation was 360, employing i 20,217 hands to whom wages were'paid I amounting to £3,284,675. The value of . raw materials worked up was £4,r '28,510, the value added in process of manufacture £4,751,150, and the total value of output £9,739,479. The output consisted of 13,806,000 pairs of l boots and shoes valued at £8,772,718; 3,632,000 pairs of slippers value at

£471,254; 104,000 pairs of uppers (made for other than factory use) .alued at £33,091. Available statistics for the year 192728 are as follows Number of establishments, 356, employing 18,783 hands ; salaries and wages paid, £3,114,552; value of materials used, £5,006,540; value added in process of manufacture, £4,518,239; value of output, £9,586, 828.

Imports of footwear into Australia for 1926-27 were valued at £517,542. This total consisted of the following classes:—Boots, shoes, clippers, etc., 2237,406; ladies evening footwear with textile uppers, £14,752; other footwear with textile uppers, excluding rubbersoled, £37,798; goloshes and rubber sand boots and shoes, and plimsolls, £114,353; gum and wading boots, £37,778; slipper forms and piece goods (exqept slippers ( sole felt), £66,962; uppers and tops,. £8,493.

WHEAT POOLS. IN CANADA

The bulletin makes the following reference to Canadian wheat pools • From an article contained in “The Economist ” of November 2nd, 1929, upon the subject of Canadian wheat pools, the following facts are obtained, which serve to show that co-operative wheat pools are now an accepted part of the economic machinery of Canada: —Their remarkable progress is indicated at a glance by the statistics Of the volume of wheat handled by the pools since their operations covered all three prairie provinces • Crop year Bushels of Wheat 1924- 81,000,000 1925- 187,000,000 1926- 180,000,000 1927-28 210,000,000 1928-29 245,000,000 In addition, provincial grain pools last year handled 35 million bushels of coarse grains. In 1925 the pools were operating 89 country elevators, which could handle 20 per cent of the total pool grain; but during the present crop year they have in operation 1028 elejvators, which will handle nearly 90 per cent of the Pool aggregate ; and the avowed objective is to have a Pool elevator at every point where there are half a dozen Pool members. A policy ■ of acquiring buildings and leasing terminal elevators lias also been pursued, ! and the pools now possess enough storage space at the terminal points for their needs. The Pools, controlling as i they do about 55 per cent of the ! wheat grown in Western Canada, are now the largest single factor in the Canadian grain markets.

WOOL CONSUMPTION IN U.S.A

Referring to the consumption of wool in the United States, the bulletin says: —The consumption of wool in the United States continues to be sutstantiallv larger than last year, and the latest returns of the Departmeent of Commerce dealing with the position for the nine months ended September show that the consumption .was 338.4 million lbs, compared with 335.8 million lbs for the corresponding nine months of last year. The increase is specially marked in 64-80’s and 36-44’s.