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ECONOMIC INTERESTS In the case of China and Japan, economic interests were the only remaining relationships in the official contacts between Madrid and Tokyo or Beijing, but were not specially important. Wine was the predominant Spanish export product during the prewar period, being also the only commodity that was sold in quantities that did not fluctuated much. It was followed in importance by canned foods and ores. The imports were mainly semi-manifactured goods, with specific items from each country, such as Japanese silk or Philippine tobacco or sugar, as well as occasional imports as rice. It is very difficult, however, to know both the exact figures and the specific features, mainly because much of the merchandise proceeding from or destined to the Far East was exchanged in the ports of Singapore, Hong-Kong or Port Said, near the Suez Channel.