§ Mr. Gouldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes there have been in the ratio of unfulfilled export orders to export sales of capital goods in the United Kingdom between 1972 and the latest available date in terms of a month's sales; and how the figures compare with the corresponding figures for Germany.
LENGTHS OF EXPORT ORDER BOOKS OF CAPITAL GOODS* IN TERMS OF SALES United Kingdom West Germany Engineering Products Shipbuilding Combined Index Capital Goods Industries Period† Ratio of ‡ export orders-on-hand to export sales(In terms of average monthly sales) Engineering and shipbuilding together in index form(1970=100) Ratio of Index of the value of export order books to the index of export to export sales(1970=100) 1970 year … … 9.4 55.4 100.0 100.0 1972 third quarter … … 10.2 42.6 92.2 Not available 1973 third quarter … … 11.8 31.5 89.8 Not available 1974 third quarter … … 12.7 67.0 128.3 95.7 1975 third quarter … … 10.7 39.5 91.6 93.8 1976 third quarter … … 9.5 26.5 73.5 93.9 * Statistics available for capital goods in West German publications are in index form only and include engineering products and shipbuilding, together with steel structures and goods, aircraft and motor vehicles. Comparable statistics for all these industries are not available for the United Kingdom but engineering products and shipbuilding are the major components; these are combined in column 3 for comparison with the German data. † The latest statistics in all cases are for the third quarter of 1976; the statistics for years 1972 to 1975 also relate to the third quarter. Order books in constant price, quantity or value index form refer to the end of period; these are divided by average monthly sales in the period in similar terms. ‡ Ratios for United Kingdom engineering products are derived from export orders and sales-both valued at 1970 prices. For United Kingdom shipbuilding, ratios are based on tonnages of ships on order to annual deliveries, at monthly rates.