Foreign Trade

T7XPOItTS during December decreased 5 per cent in -*—^ value as compared with November, while imports increased 2 per cent. A seasonal drop in shipments of fruits and wheat and a sharp falling off in refined mineral oils were largely accountable for the decline in exports. Exports of raw cotton, amounting to 629,700,000 pounds, increased as compared with both the October and November shipments, contrary to the normal seasonal trend. For the last quarter of 1931 cotton exports were the largest since the final quarter of 1928. The increase in imports over November was due primarily to large importations of copper, crude rubber, and coffee; raw silk, however, declined sharply and tin and burlap imports were the lowest in many years. As compared with December, 1930, the value of both exports and imports fell off considerably; the former by 33 per cent and the latter by 27 per cent. For the entire year 1931 the dollar value of exports, $2,424,000,000 fell 37 per cent below 1930 and 54 per cent below 1929, while imports declined from $3,061,000,000 in 1930 to $2,090,000,000 in 1931, or by 32 per cent. The important part played by price recessions in the declines in value is indicated in the accompanying chart, which shows also the changes in quantity of our foreign trade. Thus, the respective declines in volume of our exports in 1931, in comparison with 1930 and 1929, amounted to 20 and 35 per cent, or considerably less than the decline in value. Quantity declines in imports were much smaller; about 10 per cent in comparison with 1930 and about 25 per cent as compared with 1929. Since the closing months of 1929 recessions in prices of industrial crude materials and semimanufactures as well as in foodstuffs, which loom large in our foreign trade, have been extremely severe. For example, from an average of 19.4 cents in 1929 and 14.2 cents in 1930 the export unit value (average price) of raw cotton fell to 8.9 cents in 1931, a drop of 37 per cent for the year and of 54 per cent in two years. The unit value of wheat averaged 62 cents in 1931, a level 38 per cent below that of 1930 and 50 per cent below that of 1929. Similarly, in imports the unit value of crude rubber in 1931 was 6.6 cents per pound as against 12.9 cents in 1930 and 19.1 cents in 1929, a drop of 49 per cent from 1930 and of 65 per cent from 1929, while respective declines from 1929 in the unit value of raw silk, coffee, copper, and tin amounted to 54, 51, 48, and 47 per cent. In the case of a number of important commodities, our exports in 1931 were larger in quantity than in 1930. Exports of raw cotton, our most important export commodity, were 5 per cent larger than in 1930 and shipments of crude petroleum 8 per cent greater.