§ 19. Mr. H. WILLIAMSasked the President of the Board of Trade if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the imports of cocoa butter have increased from 2,800,000 lbs. in the first four months of 1933 to 4,977,000 lbs. in the first four months of this year; and, as all this cocoa butter can be produced in this country from Empire cocoa beans, what steps he proposes to take to deal with the growing foreign competition?
§ Lieut.-Colonel COLVILLEI am aware that the figures are substantially as stated by my hon. Friend. Cocoa butter is only one of the constituents of the cocoa bean, and the demand for it in this country is in excess of the demand for the other constituents. In these circumstances the requirements of the United Kingdom manufacturer can be better met by importing the extra cocoa butter than by importing the raw bean and exporting or destroying the other surplus constituents.