Multi-Fibre Arrangement

HC Deb 12 December 1977 vol 941 cc19-20

21. Mr. Hoyle

asked the Secretary of State for Trade what is the present position in relation to the renegotiation of the Multi-Fibre Agreement.

24. Mr. Madden

asked the Secretary of State for Trade how many bilateral textile agreements have been agreed between the EEC Commission and textile exporting countries; and if these agreements represent a satisfactory basis for renegotiating the Multi-Fibre Agreement.

Mr. Dell

The European Commission has completed its discussions on quota levels with 24 low-cost suppliers. We and other member countries are now assessing the results, and the EEC Council of Ministers will decide on 20th December their position on renewal of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement.

Mr. Hoyle

Is my right hon. Friend aware that, whilst welcoming the MFA, the textile industry is concerned about the transitional arrangement which will allow countries which already have quotas to ship for the whole of next year provided that they ship before 31st December and will allow those which do not have quotas, provided they ship before 31st December and provided the goods arrive before March, to escape the 1978 quotas? Will he bear in mind that in the past there has been disruption of the industry by arrangements of this kind?

Mr. Dell

We are at the moment giving consideration to the need for transitional arrangements, and that is one of the matters under consideration.

Mr. Madden

Can the Secretary of State say whether these arrangements have curbed the harmful effects of imports from Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea? If he were asked to give a Christmas message to the British textile workers about trading prospects in the year ahead, what would that message be?

Mr. Dell

The object of the renegotiation has been that the Christmas message should be for an improvement. On the other hand, at this stage I do not want to give my hon. Friend any assessment of the results of the bilateral negotiations so far completed. At the moment, the figures are under close study. During this week there will be consultation with the British textile industry, and the decision will be made next week.

Mr. Fletcher-Cooke

Nevertheless, does this new position mean that the bad and deleterious practice of giving a 6 per cent. increase in the quota every year to overseas imports, irrespective of the state of trade, has completely disappeared in EEC negotiations?

Mr. Dell

The hon. and learned Gentleman knows that certain categories of products were established within these negotiations, with different degrees of penetration, different degrees of sensitivity and different rates of proposed growth. We are now just over a week from the day on which we make the decision, We shall be having consultations. We have in mind the intense anxieties of the British textile industry. I hope that we shall be able to make a decision that brings a happier future for that industry.