Untitled

Hokitika Guardian, 23 December 1932, Page 4

Ai/rnouou Americans may find some satisiaction ina contemplating the in- ( leasing number of pounds sterling their dollars will now buy, there is another side to the picture which must become increasingly prominent as time passes on. This is the adverse effect on America’s export trade caused by the high exchange. For some months a number of lines exclusively of United States manufacture have become practically unsaleable in Auckland, due solely to th.o, fact that the adverse exchange, cm ton of the oilier charges, such, as customs duty and. freight, has raised their landed cost to prohibitivelevels. Som© importers have intimated that as soon as existing s ocks are cleared they will not deal in isucli goods until conditions become more favourable to the New Zealand buyer An example of the effect of the high exchange is afforded by a comparison of the cost of a wireless sot, valued at 100 dollars in the United States, taking the current conversion rate and par. At the current rate of 3.18 dollars to the pound, the importer would have to pay approximately £3l 8s lid in the purchase of the set, compared with £2O 12s 4d at par. Freight and insurance charges would account for an additional £4 14s 3d. as against £3 ls 10d; exchange, would absorb £4 Cs 4:1, compared with £2 12s 8cl; and enstoms du'y and charges would total £l6 2s 1 Id, compared with £9 17s lid. bv the time he took delivery cf the set the importer would have incurred a liability rf £56 os 7d. Were the exchange at par, the. to+al cost would be only £36 -Is 91. Another example is provided by a light motor-car costing 500 dollars in the United States, or about £lO3 at par. Before- delivery of the vehicle could be taken in New Zealand, the importer would have been obliged to nay exchange and charcor amounting in round figures to £lsl, bringing the landed cost to about £3OB, against £202 at par.