§ Mr. Hardyasked the Secretary of State for Industry what is the current level of use of capacity in the steel industry; and how this compares with other countries with significant steel industries.
§ Mr. Les HuckfieldIn the White Paper "British Steel Corporation: the Road to Viability" (Cmnd. 7149), published on 22nd March, it is stated—in paragraph 5—that the United Kingdom industry is currently operating at about two-thirds capacity, the same as Japan. Other EEC countries are operating at about 60 per cent. of capacity and the United States of America at about 75 per cent.