§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will publish a table showing the exports and imports of manufactures from the United Kingdom to the EEC and the rest of the world, respectively, in respect of those months of 1981 for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Peter Rees[pursuant to his reply, 27 November 1981, c. 491]: The available information is as follows:
United Kingdom Trade in Manufactures with European Community and Rest of World £ million European Community Rest of World 1981 Exports fob Imports cif Exports fob Imports cif January 944 962 1,732 1,250 February 976 1,121 1,550 1,124 September 1,047 1,404 1,823 1,568 Source
Overseas Trade Statistics of the United Kingdom.
Note
Owing to the Civil Service pay dispute figures for March to August are not yet available.
§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Trade if, in view of the deficit of over £2,000,000,000 in the United Kingdom's manufacturing trade with Germany in 1980, he will initiate a study into the reasons for the deficit and in particular whether there is any evidence of non-tariff discrimination in the United Kingdom's trade with Germany.
§ Mr. Peter Rees[pursuant to his reply, 27 November 1981, c. 491]: No. Within Western Europe our balance of trade in manufactures with individual countries largely reflects differences in competitivity due to well-known factors such as productivity and industrial costs. Certain German technical requirements are indeed stringent, but could not be regarded as discrimination.