HC Deb 05 July 1955 vol 543 cc938-9
26. Mr. George Craddock

asked the President of the Board of Trade which countries have been the principal buyers of British wool tops in the period January, 1955, to the latest convenient date; what have been the respective values of their purchases; and what were the values of purchases by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, China and Eastern Europe in the same period and their percentage of the total.

Mr. Low

As the answer contains a number of figures, I will, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Mr. Craddock

Is there any significance in the diminution of exports of wool tops to Russia during recent months?

Mr. Low

Exports of wool tops to Russia during recent months have been almost exactly the same proportion of

UNITED KINGDOM EXPORTS OF TOPS OF WOOL (INCLUDING BROKEN TOPS, CUT TOPS AND CARDED SLIVERS) JANUARY-MAY, 1955
Main markets (excluding China and Soviet Eastern Europe) China and Soviet Eastern Europe
£ £
India … … … … 2,095,211 China 2,519,972
Canada … … … … 2,477,787 Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania 366,022
Finland … … … … 1,519,905
Denmark … … … … 615,109 Other Soviet Eastern Europe* 977,550
Greece … … … … 838,914
Sweden … … … … 729,289 Total all countries £16,052,318
* Eastern Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Bulgaria, Roumania.

Exports to China were 15.7 per cent., to the Soviet Union 2.3 per cent., and to other Soviet Eastern Europe 6.1 per cent. of the total.

27. Mr. George Craddock

asked the President of the Board of Trade how much wool Roumania imported from Great Britain for the months of January, February, March and April, 1955,

TOTAL EXPORTS* OF RAW WOOL FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM TO ROUMANIA
1954 1955
Thousand lbs. £ thousand Thousand lbs. £ thousand
January … … 143 53 605 196
February … … 231 83 387 118
March … … 102 36 422 126
April … … 786 278 673 208
January-April … … 1,262 450 2,087 648
* Including re-exports of imported wool, which in these periods constituted the whole of the exports.