§ 7. Mr. Jayasked the President of the Board of Trade bow many applications he has had from iron and steel companies for licences to import Russian oil at prices below the United Kingdom market price.
§ Mr. MaudlingNone, Sir.
§ Mr. JayAs the Steel Company of Wales uses as much oil as coal, is it not rather odd that it should not have put in any application to import cheaper Russian oil? Can the President of the Board of Trade say whether his attitude to any such application would be the same as it would be to an application to import cheap American coal?
§ Mr. MaudlingI do not think I am called upon to answer questions about applications which have not yet been made to me.
§ Mr. MaudlingThat is a question which had better be addressed to the applicants.
§ 29. Mr. Thorpeasked the President of the Board of Trade at what price and in what quantities the Russian Government have offered to sell oil to the United Kingdom; and whether he will make a statement outlining his reasons for rejecting this offer.
§ Mr. MaudlingDuring my recent visit to Moscow the Soviet authorities asked for a quota of 2 million tons which would subsequently rise over a period. They did not quote any prices. I explained the reasons why, as a producer and exporter of oil ourselves through the United Kingdom oil companies, we would not, in present circumstances, agree to license additional 1363 imports of Soviet oil. Our own oil companies have a substantial surplus of oil available for export and at the moment we are looking for new outlets, not new sources of supply.
§ Mr. ThorpeDid not the right hon. Gentleman ask what the price was? Did he not find out what it was? Has he no idea at all? He apparently has not. Is it not a fact that the price would have been lower than that on the market at the moment? Would not this have been a very good way of breaking through price rings and getting cheaper oil for the consumer? If the President of the Board of Trade is anxious to stimulate trade, what other things does he intend to purchase from Russia, if he refuses to take oil in return for our goods?
§ Mr. MaudlingI cannot understand why people seem to think that oil is the only thing Russia produces. There is an immense range of raw materials, machinery and consumer goods, all of which I hope the Russians will sell in increasing quantities in this country. But I do not see the sense in buying additional quantities of something which we already have in surplus.
§ Mr. JayDo the reasons the right hon. Gentleman gave for not importing Russian oil also apply to the import of American coal?
§ Mr. MaudlingThe Question relates solely to oil.
§ Mr. ThorpeWill the right hon. Gentleman answer my supplementary question? Did he in fact try to find out what the price was?
§ Mr. MaudlingHaving said that we did not want to buy the oil, there was no point in finding out the price.
§ Mr. DugdaleDo we not spend any dollars at all on buying oil?
§ Mr. MaudlingYes. A certain amount of dollar oil comes into the country, but the oil which comes into the country through the British oil companies costs us only a small proportion of its total price in foreign exchange, whereas Russian oil would cost us 100 per cent. in foreign exchange. It is a sheer balance of payments calculation, on which the conclusion is quite clear.
§ Mr. C. OsborneIs it not quite clear that the National Union of Mineworkers 1364 is as bitterly opposed to American coal as it is to Russian oil?
§ Mr. HoltWhat does the right hon. Gentleman think the point of international trade is if it is not to endeavour to buy an article in one place which is cheaper rather than to buy more expensively in another place?
§ Mr. MaudlingThe point is to buy things we need and to sell things we have in surplus.