Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1941, Page 104

98
LE NORD
Some problems of the crisis.
The mention of these figures from the various clearing agree-
ments naturally leads to a question of particular importance
during the present situation, viz. the question of prices. We have
seen how, under peace conditions, it has been one of the most
valuable privileges in Swedish foreign trade that it has been able
to buy in the cheapest and best market. This privilege presupposes
the freedom to choose between the various markets of the world.
In our present isolated position we no longer possess this free-
dom. The coal exporters of Europe no longer compete for the
Swedish market, we are no longer flooded by offers of wool,
cotton, or mineral oils. Our bargaining position is far less favou-
rable than it used to be. This is a situation which above all calls
for organization, for unbridled competition in buying and selling
will only make things worse. Whenever it was expedient to do
so, we have endeavoured to fix the most important import and
export prices in the agreement itself; in other cases we have tried,
as far as possible and as far as it proved desirable, to support
the private organizations by Government measures.
We have never previously concluded trade agreements in-
volving a system of mutual pricefixation. The Swedish-German
price agreement of January 1940 is, to my knowledge, actually
the first agreement of this kind in international commercial
politics. This agreement aimed at a stabilization of prices for the
staple articles: coal and coke, commercial iron, and heavy chemi-
cals on one side, and Swedish iron ore on the other. This stabili-
zation of prices has probably been of considerable importance
to the development of prices in Sweden during 1940. The new
price agreement which forms part of the Swedish-German trade
agreement for the present year is decidedly less favourable than
the 1940 agreement. The prices of German staple articles have
undergone a general increase, while the price of Swedish iron ore
has remained, on the whole, unchanged. One of the most im-
portant factors of the rise in Sweden’s prosperity during the
1930’s was the favourable trend — from a Swedish point of
view — of the ratio between import and export prices. This
favourable development probably reached its climax in 1937—
38; the ratio became less favourable already in 1939 and after
our isolation in April 1940 a complete reversal in our disfavour
has taken place.