Newfoundland History

External Trade of Newfoundland

(to 1949)

[This text was written in 1949. For the full citation, see the end of the text. Further information can be gathered by accessing this site.]

 

Though Newfoundland is often thought of as a one-industry country, and though the fisheries do occupy a large proportion of the population, fishery products at present account for only about one-third of the island's exports.

 

 

Exports in 1947-48 amounted to $77,839,000, an all-time record and more than double the amount for 1938. For the ten-year period, exports and imports may be tabulated thus, in thousands of dollars

 

Year	Exports	Imports
1938	34,483	27,712
1940	32,827	28,422
1942	37,416	64,539
1944	42,397	62,485
1946	61,012	65,895
1948	77,839	105,059

 

Exports in 1947-48 were to the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries, in this ratio   - 26 to 13.5 to 9.5 to 28.5 - and consisted of the following commodities:

 

Salt codfish	20.9%
Other fishery products	15.1%
Minerals	19.6%
Newsprint and Newspapers	32.0%
Other forest products	6.9%
Other products	2.2%
Re-exports	3.3%

 

 

 

Imports during the same period were from Canada, United States, United Kingdom, and other countries in this ratio - 55 to 40.5 to 6 to 3.5 - and consisted of the following commodities:

 

Foodstuff and beverages	31.6%
animal and vegetable products	6.0%
textiles and clothing	11.3%
wood and paper	5.0%
non-metallic minerals	12.8%
metals and manufactures	7.1%
machinery and vehicles	17.6%
chemicals and allied products	3.5%
other products	5.1%

 

 

Foodstuffs and beverages, the largest class of imports, amounting altogether to $33,199,000, may be tabulated thus:

 

 

Flour, meal, grains	19.3%
Vegetables	4.8%
Fruit and juices	6.3%
Fresh meats	7.3%
Preserved meats	18.6%
Sugar and products	13.3%
Milk and products	7.0
Oils and fats, edible	6.3%
Tea, coffee, cocoa	6.3%
Wines, liquor, beer	4.5%
Other	6.3%

 

Canada has been the largest supplier of Newfoundland's imports but has absorbed relatively few of the exports, since most of Newfoundland 's exports have been competitive with Canadian products. Ordinarily Newfoundland has had a small favourable trading balance with the United Kingdom, and a strongly favourable balance with her principal fish markets: Puerto Rico, Portugal, Italy, Jamaica, and Brazil. Since the development of the pulp-and-paper industry, the highly adverse balance with the United States has been reduced.

 

For a general account of the subject, see chapter VI of R. A. MacKay, Newfoundland : economic, diplomatic, and strategic studies (Toronto, 1946). For recent figures, see Canada, Dept. of trade and commerce, Foreign Trade, Feb. 12 and April 2, 1949.

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Source: W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada . Newfoundland Supplement , Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1949, 104p., pp. 96-98.