§ Lord Mason of Barnsleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will list the names of those countries exporting coal to the United Kingdom; what are the annual tonnages involved; and whether they have reason to believe that some countries are subsidising their coal exports.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy (Baroness Hooper)The information requested for coal imports in 1988 by country of origin is as follows:
Country '000 Tonnes USA 4,261 AUSTRALIA 3,536 POLAND 1,270 COLOMBIA 574 CANADA 553 USSR 375 CHINA 319 NETHERLANDS 279 SOUTH AFRICA 276 FR GERMANY 182 BELGIUM 122 OTHERS 247 TOTAL 11,993 N.B. Due to rounding, totals differ from the sum of constituent items.
The great majority of coal imports to the UK do not appear to be subsidised.