§ 93. Mr. T. Lewisasked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware of the grave shortage of raw materials needed for the plastics industries; and whether he is taking steps to remedy this.
§ 103. Sir I. Fraserasked the President of the Board of Trade what steps he has recently taken, and is taking, to ensure increased supplies of phenolic moulding powder, particularly for those firms who are having to put employees off, or on short time, on account of the shortage of this material.
§ Mr. Belcher:Although supplies of plastics raw materials in general exceed prewar levels, they are in many cases insufficient to meet the present heavy demands, which arise from world shortages of consumer goods. Steps have been and are being taken by our producers to expand manufacturing capacity; import licences are being issued in respect of those materials needed here which can be obtained from abroad.