§ 28. Mr. CHARLES WILLIAMSasked the President of the Board of Trade how the balance of trade has varied between this country and the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics from the date of the resumption of diplomatic relations between them down to the latest date for which figures are available?
§ Mr. W. GRAHAMI will circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT a statement showing quarter by quarter, our total imports and exports of merchandise in the trade 1891 with the Soviet Union from the 1st October, 1929, to the 31st March, 1931, inclusive.
§ Mr. WILLIAMSCannot the right hon. Gentleman give the total for the year now?
§ Mr. GRAHAMNo. It will be quite misleading to read out one set of figures
§ Following is the statement:
| The following table shows the total declared value of merchandise imported into and exported from the United Kingdom registered during each of the undermentioned quarters as consigned from and to the Soviet Union. | ||||||
| Period. | Total Imports of Merchandise into U.K. consigned from the Soviet Union. | Exports of Merchandise from the U.K. consigned to the Soviet Union. | Excess of Imports over Exports. | |||
| Produce Manufactures of the United Kingdom. | Imported Merchandise. | |||||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |||
| 1929: | October to December | … | 9,221,548 | 1,086,068 | 799,558 | 7,335,922 |
| 1930: | January to March | … | 4,811,910 | 1,127,258 | 827,062 | 2,857,590 |
| April to June | … | 5,127,800 | 1,450,871 | 661,208 | 3,015,721 | |
| July to September | … | 9,700,864 | 2,451,469 | 382,302 | 6,867,093 | |
| October to December | … | 14,604,845 | 1,760,246 | 685,906 | 12,158,693 | |
| 1931: | January to March | … | 6,433,886 | 1,425,113 | 472,590 | 4,536,183 |
§ The excess of imports over exports represents the visible balance of trade. Sufficient information is not available to enable any estimate to be formed regarding the amount of the invisible items in the balance of trade.