Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 March 2020
According to the trade returns, the advanced industrial economy of the United Kingdom is regularly supplied by the developing countries with aero-engines, scientific instruments, radar installations, and other technologically advanced products, plus a considerable range of more traditional but still sophisticated machinery and equipment. The explanation is that the compilers of our trade statistics have until recently failed to distinguish between goods genuinely imported from abroad and goods in British ownership re-imported after a period of use abroad. It has only been possible to guess at the magnitude of the trade involved.
note (1) page 54 If re-imports in year I are £100, and in year II £110, then assuming that goods remain outside the country for at least one year, the correct deduction from exports in year I would be £110. On the other hand re-imports c.i.f. are apparently deducted from exports f.o.b., which must partly offset the timing error.
note (2) page 54 Some countries attempt to allow for this by omitting imports of such goods from their import statistics and recording only the value added to the goods in exports. In this instance, however, Britain is with the majority in treating imports for process and repair as normal trade.