Imports Down, Exports Up

It is usual for the U. S. to have a favorable balance of trade--i.e., to export more goods than it imports. In the first quarter of 1937. however, because of the 1936 drought there were unusually large imports of agricultural goods which gave the U. S. an unfavorable trade balance of $113,959,000. Last year there was no drought and therefore U. S. trade figures for the first quarter of 1938, released last week by the Department of Commerce, again recorded a favorable balance. What was more, the balance was a sizable $320,662,000. Reasons for this were simple: 1) Though still a half less than in the first quarter of the 1929 boom, the volume of U. S. foreign trade has nearly doubled since 1932; 2) more or less stable business conditions abroad plus vast rearming programs have kept foreign buying of U. S. goods steady while U. S. buying of foreign goods has slumped with U. S. depression.

In March, latest month for which trade figures are available, U. S. merchandise exports exceeded imports by $102,306,000. In March 1937 the reverse was true to the extent of $59,909,000. Changes wrought by drought, war and depression showed most clearly in specific cases:

Drought. In March 1937 the U. S. exported $72,000 worth of wheat, imported $2,689,000; in March 1938 it exported

$9,054,000, imported $10,000.

War. In March 1937 petroleum exports totaled $23,357,000; in March 1938 war demand had upped this to $30,637,000.

Depression. While sales of automobiles in the U. S. slumped notably, foreign demand remained firm; automotive exports in March last year totaled $28,819,000, this year $28,971,000. What the U. S. buys most from abroad is raw materials, but U. S. commodity prices are now at a two-year low; hence imports of non-ferrous metals were down from $19,547,000 in March 1937 to $9,641,000 this year, tin from $11,617,000 to $3,808,000, newsprint from $9,896,000 to $6,772,000 (see p. 42).

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