'FINANCIAL NOTES APRIL OVERSEA TRADE
THE British oversea trade returns for April have been received with little satisfaction. At a time when leading industrialists are agreed that a growing volume of foreign trade is the chief ingredient for prosperity, a shrinkage of both imports and exports has occurred. Compared with April, 1937, imports declined by £9,300,00o, British exports by L5,750,000 and re-exports by £2,250,000, so that after making all allowance for the incidence of Easter and the consequent shorter working month this year, there has been a decline in the daily volume of overseas trade.
The decline affected vital export trades, including coal and steel, as well as the textile trades which have been feeling the pinch for some months. There is little sign that the import figures of wheat, sugar and whale-oil have been unduly inflated by Government purchases. Wheat imports for the first four months of 1938 were actually about 31 million cwt. down on the corresponding months of 1937 ; sugar imports were about 500,000 cwt. higher, and whale-oil imports about 21,000 tons up. On the other hand, it is a matter of satisfaction that total imports have shrunk more than the export figures, so that the adverse balance of merchandise trade was only £31,40o,00o in April compared with L42,700,000 in March and £32,700,000 in April, 1937.
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