War Economy
Imports of Defence Materials
Imports of Defence Materials
Under stress of war, nearly a quarter of all import arrivals were defence materials. In the seven years 1939 to 1945, imports of defence materials were valued at just over £105 million out of total imports valued at £438 million. The heaviest influx of defence materials was in 1943 when they reached nearly £47 million, half the value of all imports in that year.
The effect of war on the availability of normal imports is shown page 372 in Chart 66, where the volume of imports has been subdivided to show the approximate portion which was represented by defence materials.1