§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Industry what is the cost of
LENGTHS OF EXPORT ORDER BOOKS OF CAPITAL GOODS* IN TERMS OF SALES Engineering Products United Kingdom Shipbuilding Combined Index West Germany Capital Goods Industries Periodt† 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 sales (1970=100) 1976 Q3 … … 8.3 18.7(R) 56.2 96.1 1977 Q3 … … 8.5 23.2 62.2 96.1 1978 Q3 … … 9.1 20.0 61.1 94.0 1979 Q3 … … 9.2 74.8§ 122.7§ 99.4 (1st two months) (1st month only) * Statistics available for capital goods in West German publications are in index form only. †Estimates have had to be used for the third quarter of 1979. ‡Ratios for United Kingdom engineering products are derived from valuations at 1975 prices. For United Kingdom shipbuilding, ratios are based on gross registered tonnages of merchant ships (100 gross tons and over) ordered and completed. §This figure is abnormally high because shipbuilding completions in the first three quarters of 1979 were very small. ║The engineering and shipbuilding series have been weighted together using 1975 export sales and the resulting series has been recentered upon 1970=100