§ 69. Mr. Sharpasked the Minister of Supply what is the percentage use now being made of wire-drawing capacity in U.K.; whether he will make an increased allocation of rods and bars to the industry in order to reduce the need for wire imports and increase the supplies available for the home and export trades; and what action he proposes taking to increase the production of rods and bars and to increase the allocation made to the wiredrawing industry.
§ Mr. G. R. StraussIt is not possible to give any precise figure, but it is estimated that up to a quarter of the wire-drawing capacity in the United Kingdom cannot be fully used at present owing to shortages of material. Increased supplies of rods are being made available to wire drawers, but for some time it will be impossible to make enough material available from United Kingdom production to enable capacity to be used to the full. Imports of both rod and wire will, therefore, be necessary. New rod making capacity is being provided as part of the industry's modernisation plan, but there will be little substantial production from this before 1950.