TRADE WITH JAPAN

Hokitika Guardian, 30 August 1930, Page 6

TRADE WITH JAPAN

NEW ZEALAND’S PROSPECTS. The possibilities of New Zealand trade with Japan being extended are reviewd in a bulltin issued by Professor H. Belsliaw, dean of the faculty of commerce of the Auckland- University College, by authority of the Minister of Industries and Commerce.

Last s year Professor Belsliaw visited Japan as a delegate to the Conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations, and he was asked to investigate the prospects of any development of New Zealand trade with that countiy. He considers that trade prospects with Japan in respect to certain commodities are good, especially if existing hindrances are removed and New Zealand exporters pursue active trade policies. This, he says, in .summarising the position, applies more particularly to butter, casein, tinned cream, tallow, hides, and leather, and wool. For condensed and dried milk and cheese the prospects can be described as moderate ; for beef, mutton and lamb, jams, friut and vegetables, the prospects are very small indeed.

INCREASING POPULATION. Off recent years the population of Japan had increased by about 750,000 annually, said Professor Btelshaw. Simultaneously there had been a steady improvement in the standard of living of the working classes. This prodigious increase had been possible only as a result of a process of rapid industrialisation, necessitating increasing importations of foodstuffs and raw materials. New Zealand’s special interest was in foodstuffs and raw materials of pastoral oiigin. Statistics showed that while the production of foodstuffs had increased in Japan the country had had to rely on an increasing proportion of imported, foods. The population would continue to increase, and the country would require to import increasing quantities of foodstuffs in the future. The Japanese were adopting Western foods and clothing to an increasing extent. Larger imports of raw materials of minerals and agricultural origin were also being required and in .some, notably wool and hides, New Zealand was interested. It was important for New Zealand exporters to insist on f.o.b. sales whereever possible. Professor Belsliaw considers it preferable at preent to operate through European houses whose activities are confined where possible to New Zealand goods. New Zealand companies intending to enter the Japanese markets should register their trade name and brands well in advance.

IMPORTED BUTTER. The main sources of Japan’s butter supply are Canada, Australia, New Zea_ land and the United States, in that order. The total value off. butter consumed in Japan in 1927 was less than £350,000 a very small per capita consumption. The general process of Europeanisation, however, was tending toward a growing familiarity with the use of this commodity. The movement toward the increase in the use of animal foodstuffs, including butter, was strengthened by the recognition that Japanese diet was deficient in pon-ein and that the proportion of carbohydrate in portein was unduly high. Butter had been introduced into the rations of the Japanese army for the purpose of balancing the diet. Margarine was being used increasingly for industrial purposes, especially by small bakeries. There were dairy 'factories oil the island of Hokkiado, similar to those in New Zealand, but it seemed highly doubtful that Japan would be able in the long run to satisfy the increase in the demand for butter, which was likely to occur. New Zealand should be well able to compete with other sources of butter supply, especially if direct shipping could be arranged. The prospects of developing a large trade in cheese did not seem very great for some time to come, but the figures for the importation of condensed nnrt dried milk suggested that the demand was fairly stable. Though the United States was already firmly entrenched in that market, it appeared that if tiie hindrances’due to the absence off direct shipping and of trade commissioners were removed, there would be fair prospects of an increase in New Zealand’s trade in dried and condensed milks provided efficient sales policies were adopted.