Mr. Eddie Griffithsasked the Minister of Technology whether the British Steel Corporation has made proposals for price increases; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Harold LeverThe Government after very careful consideration have accepted proposals by the British Steel Corporation to increase the price of carbon steel products, except tinplate, by 1¾ per cent., thus restoring the ³13 million abatement of its proposed new prices announced by the Minister of Power on 21st May in the light of N.P.B.I. Report No. 111. An increase in the price of merchant pig iron and a reduction in quantity rebates for reinforcing steel have also been accepted.
>The increased prices reflect higher costs and are in keeping with experience overseas, where prices have risen markedly. The Government support the importance which the N.B.P.I. and the B.S.C. itself attach to efficiency and cost-saving. and I am satisfied that measures are in hand to ensure that this work is pursued vigorously. The Iron and Steel Consumers Council has accepted that the new price should be implemented immediately, and the corporation aims to bring most of them into effect on 16th November.—[Vol. 784, cols. 433–42.]