HL Deb 10 March 1988 vol 494 cc896-8WA
Lord Bruce of Donington

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether, in respect of the United Kingdom's balance of payments with other members of the European Community taken en bloc, they will publish an analysis of exports and imports by commodity in the same form and detail and for the same periods as set out in Tables 8 and 12 of the DTI Press Notice No. 142 of 29th February 1988.

Lord Beaverbrook

Seasonally-adjusted figures are not available for area-commodity analyses. Direct comparisons with figures given in the press notice should be treated with caution, particularly for those commodities that have definite seasonal patterns; for example, food.

The available information is given in the tables:

IMPORTS FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY BY COMMODITY (Overseas Trade Statistics basis)
£ million, cif
Manufactures excluding erratics (a)
Total Food bever ages and tobacco Basic Materials Fuels Total Manufactures Total Semi-manufactures excluding precious stones & silver (PS) Finished manufactures excluding ships, North Sea installations and aircraft (SNA)
Total Chemicals Other Total Passenger Motor Cars Other Consumer Intermediate Capital
SITC (Rev 3) 0-9 0+1 2+4 3 5-8 5-8 less SNAPS 5+6 less PS 5 6 less PS 7+8 less SNA 781.0 b b b
1986 44577 6054 1555 1423 35245 34575 12879 5345 7534 21696 3766
1987 49557 6372 1835 1447 39750 38913 14538 6058 8480 24375 3991
1986 Q4 12134 1682 468 336 9575 9393 3336 1328 2008 6057 918
1987 Q1 11674 1380 513 349 9396 9224 3504 1502 2001 5721 905
Q2 12218 1562 457 304 9861 9599 3585 1501 2085 6014 1067
Q3 12297 1630 408 435 9780 9596 3581 1514 2067 6015 1014
Q4 13368 1800 457 359 10713 10494 3869 1542 2327 6625 1005
1987 Nov 4610 616 154 131 3695 3597 1339 525 815 2257 361 N/A
Dec 4200 562 146 117 3362 3311 1167 480 687 2143 353
1988 Jan (c) 3997 461 139 109 3281 3204 1241 511 730 1963 395
Aug Oct 87 12329 1684 432 371 9804 9623 3659 10520 2139 5964 885
Nov Jan 88 12807 1638 438 357 10338 10112 3748 1516 2232 6364 1109
& change +3.5 -2.5 +1.5 -3.5 +5.5 +5 +2.5 -0.5 +4.5 +6.5 +25

Source: Overseas Trade Statistics—1987 figures are provisional.

Notes:

(a) These are defined its ships, North Sea installations (together comprising SITC (REV 2) 793), aircraft (792) precious stones (667), and silver (681.1).

(b) Based on the United Nations Broad Economic Categories end-use classification, not broken down by country detail.

(c) Component series include an overstatement not yet available in commodity/area detail.

EXPORTS FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY BY COMMODITY (Overseas Trade Statistics basis)
£ million, fob
Manufactures excluding erratics (a)
Total Food beverages and tobacco Basic Materials Fuels Total Manufactures Total Semi-manufactures excluding precious stones & silver (PS) Finished manufactures excluding ships, North sea installations and aircraft (SNA)
Total Chemicals Other Total Passenger Motor Cars Other Consumer Intermediate Capital
SITC (Rev 3) 0–9 0+1 2+4 3 5–8 5–8 less SNAPS 5+6 less PS 5 6 less PS 7+8 less SNA 781.0 b b b
1986 34996 3133 1409 5666 24345 22623 9257 4853 4404 13366 542
1987 39417 3218 1477 5715 28952 26953 10516 5482 5034 16437 770
1986 Q4 9959 1080 391 1226 7134 6609 2536 1288 1248 4073 180
1987 Q1 9676 783 485 1576 6820 6303 2543 1338 1205 3760 200
Q2 9696 706 362 1374 7240 6717 2627 1366 1261 4090 206
Q3 9267 758 311 1383 6802 6364 2519 1318 1201 3845 158
Q4 10777 972 319 1383 8090 7568 2826 1459 1367 4742 206
1987 Nov 3503 301 103 448 2646 2461 926 475 451 1535 77 N/A
Dec 3666 321 115 465 2761 2630 972 505 466 1658 71
1988 Jan (c) 2443 181 95 328 1836 1756 688 373 315 1069 70
Aug Oct 87 9575 858 302 1416 6985 6513 2517 1335 1183 3996 158
Nov Jan 88 9612 803 313 1241 7243 6848 2585 1353 1232 4263 218
& change +0.5 -6.5 +3.5 -12.5 +3.5 +5 +2.5 +1.5 +4 +6.5 +37.5

Source: Overseas Trade Statistics—1987 figures are provisional.

Notes:

(a) These are defined as ships, North Sea installations (together comprising SITC (REV 2) 793), aircraft (792) precious stones (667), and silver (681.1).

(b) Based on the United Nations Broad Economic Categories end-use classification, not broken down by country detail.

(c) Component series include an overstatement not yet available in commodity/area detail.