THE COLOMBO PLAN

9. In view of these difficulties, it is hardly surprising that there is still a major task of reconstruction in South and South-East Asia. The outstanding fact is the amount of work which has already been done and the levels of production which are being achieved. The course of the various economies is described in a wealth of detail in the United Nations Annual Economic Surveys of Asia and the Far East, and it is necessary here to relate only the essential facts. In the following table the more significant figures of pre-war and post-war production and exports are presented: Table 1. —Production and Exports of Selected Commodities from South and South-East Asia thousand tons Production — Pre-war 1946 1949 Rice (paddy) 70,990 64,987 70,117 Wheat 10,160 9,180 9,517 Oils and fats 3,596 2,844* 3,174 Sugar 6,223 5,789 6,200 Jute 1,831 1,427 1,340 Cotton 1,132 759 606 Tin 116 15 94 Petroleum (crude) 7,960 444 9,034 Exports— Rice (paddy) 5,676 956 2,460 Oils and fats 1,319 174 630 Sugar 1,029 2* 36 Tea 315 268 362 Jute 757 391 271 Jute manufactures 894 711 846 Cotton 573 171 177 Rubber 830 891 1,393 * 1947. Note: For the definition and sources of these figures, and for details by countries and years throughout the period, reference should be made to Appendix 1. 10. It will be seen that, although production has in general been restored, exports have revived unevenly and exports of foodstuffs are still much lower than pre-war. Rice. —The drastic effects of the war have already been described. Since 1946 the work of rehabilitation has partially restored the flow of supplies. There has been a full recovery in Thailand, but not in Burma or Indo-China. Rubber. —The level of exports recovered rapidly after the war and is now far higher than at any previous time. Orders were placed for the necessary equipment long before Malaya was liberated. But the real effects of the years of neglect under Japanese occupation have yet to show themselves. The long period in which there was no replanting will react upon the productivity of the industry in future years, unless a large programme can be got rapidly under way. Oils and fats. —The main producers of oils and fats in the area are India, Indonesia and Malaya. Immediately after the war the attempts made in India to increase the production of other foods reduced the output of oils and fats. Since that time competing demands for cultivable land have limited production. The level of India's exports of oils has also been affected by the cessation of its imports of copra and by a general increase in home consumption. In spite of internal difficulties, the production of oils and fats in Malaya, which suffered considerably as a result of the war, is now almost back to its pre-war level.

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