§ Mr. PaiceTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what area of new planting would be required to enable the forestry industry to displace(a) 10 per cent., (b) 20 per cent., (c) 30 per cent., (d) 40 per cent. and (e) 50 per cent. of the United Kingdom's current imports of the following raw materials: (i) mechanical pulp, (ii) chemical pulp, (iii) sawn timber, (iv) round logs, (v) paper and (vi) panel products.
§ Mr. Douglas Hogg[holding answer 13 November 1989]: The Forestry Commission advises that because of the time it takes trees to grow and produce timber, it is not possible to make any meaningful estimate of the extent to which new planting would displace various categories of wood imports over the next 40 or 50 years, even assuming that these were maintained at current levels. As a DTI Minister I can add nothing to this advice.