War Economy
Munitions and War Stores increase to Nearly Half of all Arrivals
Munitions and War Stores increase to Nearly Half of all Arrivals
Imports of munitions and war stores, which were under 1 per cent of total imports in 1939, had moved up to nearly half of all imports in 1943. Consumers' goods, on the other hand, were about a quarter of all imports in the immediate pre-war years, but had fallen to one-sixteenth by 1943, illustrating strikingly the effectiveness of wartime supply arrangements that tended to concentrate scarce shipping, scarce funds and scarce overseas production on supplies for war and the means to manufacture such supplies, at the expense of consumers' goods and the less essential types of materials and equipment.
page 130Chart 30 shows changes in types of imports.