Fiji’S Trade

Slight Decline in Imports and Exports

FIGURES to hand from the Customs Department of Fiji for the three months ended March 31, 1934, as compared with the same period last year, show that the Colony’s export trade, which had reached astonishing proportions, has de clined slightly.

The following figures show the posi tion:—

Sugar, the principal export of the Colony, showed a decrease in value of £33,381, although the production was only 972 tons less than 1933. Copra, as was to be expected, dropped £25,403 in value, al though the output was over 2,000 tons more than last year. The value of banana exports declined by about £1,700 and the quantity by about 5,000 cases. Trocas shell and miscellaneous articles increased slight ly in value.

Imports— Suva 1933 £ 167,730 9,976 68,923 1934 £ 139,200 4,257 59,435 Levuka Lautoka Total Imports . 246,629 202,892 Exports— Suva 149,922 22,299 196,330 81,553 16,937 216,641 Levuka Lautoka Total Exports . 368,551 315,131 Exports in detail— Sugar 245,592 65,940 19,793 5,302 212,211 40,537 18,008 7,859 1,875 34,641 Copra Bananas Trocas Molasses Miscellaneous 31,924