§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the annual value of sales of surgical gauze and surgical dressings made from gauze 295W manufactured in the United Kingdom for the latest period of 12 months for which figures are available; and what percentage of those sales was accounted for by exports from the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. ChannonStatistics published inBusiness Monitor PQ 4322 show that in the year ended September 1983 sales by United Kingdom manufacturers of "cotton cloth weighing not more than 68 grams per square metre", which consists largely of surgical dressing fabric, were 80 million linear metres—approximately 86 million square metres—valued at £12 million. These figures cover only sales to third parties by establishments with 75 or more employees, and exclude fabric produced for further processing within each establishment.
Information on sales of surgical dressings made from gauze by United Kingdom manufacturers largely with 200 or more employees is published in Business Monitor PQ 2570. The value of these sales was £18 million for the 12-month period ended September 1983.
Data compiled by the textile statistics bureau show that for the same period United Kingdom production of surgical dressing fabric, including that produced for further processing within each establishment, was 133 million linear metres or approximately 143 million square metres.
During this period exports of surgical dressing fabric—1983 tariff headings 5509 0300 and 5509 1000—were £4 million or 18 million square metres in terms of quantity, while exports of surgical dressings made from gauze—1983 tariff heading 3004 3100—were £7 million.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, how many tonnes of dressings, tariff classification 30–04, and surgical gauze, tariff classification 55.09, were imported into the United Kingdom from the People's Republic of China in the first nine months of 1983; and what was the comparable combined figure of imports into the other European Economic Community countries in the 12 months to December 1983.
§ Mr. ChannonData for the European Community for 1983 are not yet available; figures for 1982 are given for comparison.
Imports of Dressings and Surgical Gauze from the People's Republic of China Into United Kingdom Into European Community 1982 1983* 1982 1983 Dressings† 59.2 24.6 973 N/A Surgical Gauze‡ Nil 24.0 384 N/A Notes * January-September. † Tariff classification 30.04. ‡ Tariff classification 55.09 (part)