EXCHANGE DOUBTS

Hokitika Guardian, 30 July 1932, Page 3

EXCHANGE DOUBTS

HOW N.Z. LOISES BUSINESS. FOREIGNERS MAY BENEFIT. WELLINGTON, July 28. A specific instance of how uncertainty with respect to exchange u, hindering the -export trade of .-.eiv Zealand is supp.ied by a prominent business man. Inquiries from Australia wer e re-, centiy received by a Wellington house for certain New Zealand produce, fox what are oa.led "spread shipments,' over six months. The business wa; offered on a c.i.f. basis, that is, coveiing insurance and freight .to destim. tion, and would have amounted in ah to .about £250,000. The first install ment of the orders would have represented in round figures a payment ,oi £40,000 for the article itself —a natural, product Of New Zealand involving payment of a large. amount for laboui —also £2250 for railway carriage, £SOOO for port handling and steamer freights, and £350 to £4OO in insurance-, commissions, and other incidentals. But' the producers felt obliged t< that they could not executthis business beyond (September, as they wished to be free to revise their price in the eVent of any alterations beih; made in the rate of exchange (thereafter. lire, prospective purchasers were not attracted by business on these t mis, and the producers, quite naturally, were not disposed to take the risk of the exchange going against • them. The price quoted for the article was mutually satisfactory, and it was admitted by both parties that, although the price did not afford the producer princely profits, yet iit would provide work for a certain number of hands at present idle, and would keep the plant running. There now appears to be a probability of this. business going to foreign suppliers.