Balance of Trade

HC Deb 21 March 1983 vol 39 cc525-6

6. Mr. Peter Archer

asked the Minister for Trade what was the balance of trade for the last month for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Peter Rees

The United Kingdom had a visible trade deficit of £491 million in January. The estimated monthly surplus on invisible trade amounted to £230 million.

Mr. Archer

Can the hon. and learned Gentleman confirm that in January there was a deficit on non-oil visible trade of over £1 billion and an overall deficit of £261 million? Will he also confirm that despite an oil surplus for 1982 of £4.6 billion the overall balance was only £3.9 billion, showing an overall deficit if it were not for oil? How can he reconcile that with the Secretary of State's reference on 31 January to what he was pleased to call the outstanding performance of our overseas trade in 1982"? Will the Government now consider it possible that they may be wrong?

Mr. Rees

The right hon. and learned Gentleman should take comfort from the fact that we have had record surpluses for the past three years and should not draw too many conclusions from one month's figures. Oil has made a contribution to our export figures but so, for example, has invisible trade. The right hon. and learned Gentleman trumpets about the Government being wrong, but he has not said in what regard.

Mr. Squire

As the right hon. and learned Member for Warley, West (Mr. Archer) has referred to the 1982 figures, will my right hon. and learned Friend confirm that on a similar basis—imports and exports—we showed a £2 billion surplus on manufactures, which is precisely the area which the Labour party spends so much time highlighting and on which it claims we were not doing very well?

Mr. Rees

My hon. Friend makes a valid point. May I reinforce it for the benefit of the House and the right hon. and learned Member for Warley, West (Mr. Archer)? While world trade in manufactured goods in 1982 shrunk by 3 per cent., the volume of exports of United Kingdom manufactured goods increased by 1 per cent. That seems to demonstrate that manufacturing industry is not in such a bad state as the Opposition would have us believe.

Mr. Hoyle

Will the Minister not be so complacent about such matters? Does he not realise that manufacturing industries have been having a bad time, largely due to imports? Would it not be more effective to plan our trade and protect vital sectors of British industry, such as the motor, steel and paper industries? If nothing is done there will soon be no paper industry in Britain.

Mr. Rees

The hon. Gentleman and his right hon. and hon. Friends do not say how, if we were to plan our exports, which I suppose is a euphemism for protectionism, we could prevent other countries employing the same tactics against us. As we export about 30 per cent. of our gross domestic product—more than any other developed country in the world—we would suffer from such planning, which would lead to a trade war.

Mr. Forman

Does my hon. and learned Friend agree that, in our efforts to preserve and improve our trade balance, it is vital to continue to deal with the problem of non-tariff barriers? Is he as worried as I am about the fact that the United Nations conference on trade and development recently demonstrated that there are about 21,000 products in the world to which non-tariff barriers now apply? What plans do the Government have to reduce that number, which cannot be for the good of free trade?

Mr. Rees

My hon. Friend makes an important point. It can fairly be said that about 7 per cent. of the United Kingdom's imports are subject to some kind of non-tariff barrier. I am devoting a great deal of thought to the internal market councils of the EC, which are designed to eliminate precisely that type of barrier.