Annual report on Sarawak.

Date:
[1952]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on Sarawak. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    42/198 (page 30)
    Indonesian and Thailand markets to the Singapore entrepot trade. Singapore textile merchants, with large stocks on their hands which would normally have gone to the Indonesian and Thailand markets, diverted quantities of textiles, on a consignment basis, to Sarawak. Local merchants, already well stocked as a result of over-buying during the 1950—1951 boom, soon found themselves over-stocked, and towards the end of the year had to liquidate stocks at greatly reduced prices and often below cost. The cost of certain basic foodstuffs, sugar and salt, showed a re¬ duction compared with that in 1951, while rice, flour and milk again increased. The respective declared values were : 1952 1951 Rice $ 561.71 per ton $ 415.65 per ton Flour • • • 469.56 99 99 408.77 99 99 Sugar • • * 585.25 99 99 671.46 99 99 Salt • • • 60.90 99 99 73.94 99 99 Milk 1,545.60 99 99 1,500.91 99 99 The 1952 value of Rice was 5.88 times that of 1940. 99 99 99 Flour 99 3.93 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 Sugar 99 3.59 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 Salt 99 1.25 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 Milk 99 3.14 99 99 99 99 Decreases in the quantities imported in 1952 as compared with 1951 occurred in cigarettes, brandy, gin, still wines, beer, bicycles, sporting guns, outboard motors, sewing machines and cosmetics, indicating the end of the period of carefree spending. Exports The f. o. b. value of exports for 1952, $438,563,317, was made up as under: as compared with /952 1951 1940 Petroleum, crude and refined $307,060,951 $303,186,679 $11,446,818 Rubber 65,182,029 158,865.402 '26,167,140 Sago flour 5,954,774 7,988,232 2,184,997 Pepper 33,031,835 17,925,184 362,569 Jelutong ... 2,107,951 2,310,331 775,209 Various guttas 236,785 160,662 145,930 Damar 738,564 613,829 88,688 Copra 1,106,541 2,654,196 70,629 Timber, sawn and logs 8,925,910 4,727,834 89,840 Sundries 14,217,977 9,917,087 4,438,587 $438,563,317 $508,349,436 $45,770,407