§ Mr. Sutcliffeasked the President of the Board of Trade (1) whether, in view of the difficulties created by Germany in mutual trade with this country, he will look into the whole matter with the object of seeing whether any action could usefully be taken to do away with enforced long-term credits;
(2) whether his attention has been called to the fact that Germany is intimating to Lancashire textile exporters that permits to ship cotton yarns will not be granted unless 90 days' credit is given; whether he is aware that there is strong opposition in Lancashire to any such proposal; and what steps he will take to ensure that such action is modified or cancelled?
Mr. StanleyThe arrangements for the use of the sterling earmarked to pay for exports of United Kingdom goods to Germany under the Anglo-German Payments Agreement of the 1st November, 1934, are based on the issue by the German authorities of foreign exchange certificates which guarantee that sterling will be available to pay for the goods to be imported. When foreign exchange certificates for the whole of the amount of1072W the sterling available for payment in any quarter for a particular class of goods have been issued German importers cannot obtain sterling to pay for goods until the following quarter. Consequently the German customer who wants further supplies of that class of goods must accept later delivery if he cannot obtain extended credit. I am assured that no influence has been exerted by the German authorities to have the normal terms of credit extended.
In the case of cotton yarns, foreign exchange certificates for the whole of the amount of sterling available for the third quarter of this year have been issued and exchange certificates are available only for payment from October onwards.