The Future of Japanese Textiles

Abstract

The present condition of the Japanese textile in? dustry is somewhat of a shock to those who remember the pre-war days when Japanese cotton tex? tiles forced many American mills to shut down or when Japanese rayon was sold on the east coast of the United States at a price lower than the cost of pro? ducing rayon in this country. Today Japanese textile manufactures are operating at only a fraction of their prewar output; yet in the rebuilding of Japan the textile industry will play an important role as one of the few industries through which foreign exchange for imports of food and other necessities can be obtained. At the same time the Japanese textile industry is also important to many other countries as a means of helping to relieve current world textile shortages. The war reduced the capacity of Japan's textile in? dustry to a fraction of prewar levels.(1) Cotton mills have only one-fifth of the number of spindles they had in 1937, the high point of prewar capacity. Rayon producers have only one-third the capacity of their 1938 equipment remaining. Japan's worsted capacity is only one-fifth the 1939 prewar high, and woolen capacity is one-third the 1939 level. The silk industry was probably hardest hit with only one-seventh of the prewar reeling capacity remaining at the end of the war. The following table of statistics from Japanese sources compares prewar with present capacity: Peak of Prewar Present Textile Installed Capacity Installed Capacity Cotton