Table 40.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With China-Con.

4 Not shown separately.

Includes camel's hair.

Silk fabrics, except pile fabrics. -1,000 lb.

Tungsten and alloys (tungsten content).1,000 lb.

Antimony, needle or liquated, and regulus

Works of art produced before 1830.

1 Tons of 2,240 pounds in 1929 and 1932; tons of 2,000 pounds, air-dry weight, in 1937 and 1938.

2 Less than 500.

3 Figures for 1929 and 1932 have not been adjusted for minor transfers in classifications of later years.

1,512

301

597

351

96 2,514

28 4,741

22

1, 125

141

64

38

4,278

2,993

339

1, 144

1, 054

HONG KONG

As in the last 5 months of 1937, a large part of the trade of South and Central China in 1938 passed through the port of Hong Kong. Accordingly, exports to Hong Kong from the United States were maintained at a comparatively high level-totaling $21,288,000 in value, compared with $20,266,000 in 1937 and $8,550,000 in 1936, the year prior to the outbreak of Sino-Japanese hostilities. With the cutting of the Kowloon-Canton and Hankow-Canton railways in the fall of 1938, however, trade with Hong Kong diminished. The decline was particularly marked in United States imports from Hong Kong during the last 3 months of the year. The difficulties encountered in moving goods from the interior of China to Hong Kong for shipment, together with slackened demand in the United States for Chinese raw materials in view of our business recession, resulted in a fall in general imports into the United States from Hong Kong for the year to a value of only $3,367,000, compared with $9,213,000 in 1937 and $8,541,000 in 1936.

Substantial increases occurred in United States exports to Hong Kong of machinery and vehicles, including automotive and aircraft products; but notable declines, compared with 1937, were registered in exports of refined mineral oils, metals and metal manufactures, and wood and paper. Practically all commodities in our imports from Hong Kong, including the principal imports (tung oil, tin bars, and vegetable food products), showed decreases in 1938, compared with both 1937 and 1936.

Table 41.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With Hong Kong NOTE. Data for individual export items include only United States products. Import commodities are "general imports" in 1929 and 1932 and "imports for consumption" in 1937 and 1938.

Table 41.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With Hong

Kong Continued

1 Less than 500.

Figures for 1929 and 1932 have not been adjusted for minor transfers in classifications of later years. Not shown separately.

KWANTUNG LEASED TERRITORY

The Kwantung Leased Territory, which includes the port of Dairen, is the gateway through which passes the bulk of the foreign trade of Manchuria. The recorded statistics of United States trade with this area, however, do not reveal the trade trends before and after the segregation of Manchuria in 1932, in view of the fact that these records do not include goods transshipped to Manchurian ports via Japan, nor do they include, in years previous to 1932, transshipments from Shanghai and other Chinese ports. Prior to 1932 only a small portion of United States trade with Manchuria was direct. The bulk

of our exports went to Shanghai or Tientsin in China proper, and from these ports they were either transshipped to Dairen or resold to other parts of Manchuria. They were, accordingly, recorded in our customs statistics as exports to China, rather than as exports to Kwantung. With the severance of Manchuria from Chinese customs control in 1932 and the necessity of paying duty on goods entering Manchuria from Chinese ports, these transshipments ceased, and American exports formerly shipped via China were sent direct and credited to the Kwantung Leased Territory.

Since the outbreak of Sino-Japanese hostilities in July 1937, Dairen has assumed increasing importance as a point of entry not only for goods for use in Manchuria but for shipments to the North China area also. Particularly in the early stages of the conflict, products destined for North China were sent to Dairen because of hindrances at Tientsin and other North China ports. Moreover, the demand in Manchuria for military supplies and for materials to be used in the development of its heavy industries stimulated import trade. Hence, our exports to the Kwantung Leased Territory advanced sharply, reaching a value of $16,068,000 in 1937 and $17,005,000 in 1938, as against only $3,542,000 in 1936. The increases were confined mainly to sales of copper, industrial machinery, motortrucks, railway cars, and petroleum products, as well as raw cotton to feed Manchuria's growing textile industry. It is noteworthy that consumer goods do not feature to any extent in this trade.

Analysis of the monthly trade of the United States with Kwantung reveals a downward trend in our exports to that territory in the latter months of 1938. This may be attributed in part to the application of import-control regulations in Manchuria and in part to diversion of some orders to Germany and Italy, in line with Manchuria's barter agreements with those countries.

Manchurian products do not feature to any extent in our import trade. General imports into the United States from Kwantung totaled only $3,988,000 in 1936, $3,708,000 in 1937, and $1,627,000 in 1938. The decline occurred chiefly in imports of soybean products, which are the principal items in this trade.

Table 42.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With Kwantung
Leased Territory

NOTE. Data for individual export items include only United States products. Import commodities
are "general imports" in 1929 and 1932 and “imports for consumption" in 1937 and 1938.

1

Table 42.-Principal Commodities in Trade of the United States With Kwantung Leased Territory-Continued

1 Figures for 1929 and 1932 have not been adjusted for minor transfers in classifications of later years. 2 Less than 500.

FRENCH INDOCHINA AND THAILAND (SIAM)

Both the export trade and the import trade of the United States with French Indochina and Thailand (Siam) were slightly larger in value in 1938 than in 1937. Exports to the area increased from $6,214,000 in 1937 to $6,395,000, while imports for consumption advanced to $7,488,000 from $6,972,000. Machinery and vehicles as a group comprised about two-fifths of the export total in 1938, while raw cotton, leaf tobacco, petroleum products, and metals and manufactures ranked next in importance, in the order named. Purchases of crude rubber from French Indochina increased in both quantity and value in 1938; this one item represented 90 percent of the import trade with the area.

Principal United States exports to French Indochina and Thailand in 1938, with 1937 figures in parentheses, were as follows: Machinery and vehicles valued at $2,426,000 ($2,738,000), of which automobiles, including trucks, parts, and accessories, were $573,000 ($533,000) and airplanes, parts, and accessories, $843,000 ($1,155,000); raw cotton, 24,088 bales at $1,255,000 (14,327 bales, $817,000); unmanufactured tobacco, 4,844,000 pounds at $788,000 (5,850,000 pounds, $849,000); refined mineral oils, 153,000 barrels at $488,000 (85,622 barrels, $390,000); metals and manufactures, $403,000 ($428,000); chemicals and related products, $170,000 ($171,000); and vegetable food products, $162,000 ($121,000).

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