§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Industry what changes there have been in the ratio of unfulfilled exports 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.
§ Mr. ButcherThe information requested (except for the year 1972) is as follows. It should be noted that the engineering series includes improvements to the method of deflation and consequently the values given are not completely consistent with previous answers. Values for 1972 are not available on this revised basis.
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Lengths of Export Order Books of Capital Goods in Terms of Sales United Kingdom West Germany* Period Engineering products† Shipbuilding‡ Combined index║ Capital goods industries Ratio of export orders-on-hand to export sales (in terms of average monthly sales) Engineering and shipbuilding together in index form (1975=100) Ratio of index of the value of export order books to the index of export sales(1975=100) 1973 11.0 40.0 128 92 1974 10.9 80.7 150 100 1975 8.3 36.1 100 100 1976 8.5 16.5 90 100 1977 8.5 20.8 93 96 1978 8.5 13.9 89 97 1979 8.4 11.7 87 94 1980 8.0 5.3 79 89 1981 10.1 46.0 123 97 1982¶ 9.7 46.6 119 97 * The ratios for West Germany have been derived from index numbers with no adjustment for inflation; orders-on-hand have been taken at the end of the period to which they refer. † For engineering products, the ratios are derived from volume index numbers of orders-on-hand—end of period—and sales. ‡ For shipbuilding, the ratios are derived from gross registered tonnages of merchant ships—100 gross tons and over—ordered and completed. ║ The engineering and shipbuilding series have weighted together using the value of export sales in 1975. ¶ 1st quarter.