§ 79. Mr. Platts-Millsasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will furnish a list giving, for each of the trade agreements currently in force with the countries of Eastern Europe, the total amount contemplated in each agreement and the total value, reckoned to the nearest convenient date of the deliveries made on the British side and conversely, on the part of the several countries concerned.
§ Mr. Bottomley:No, for the reasons which I give later. There are three trade agreements currently in force with Eastern European countries. They are 23W the Agreement with Russia of December, 1947, and the agreements concluded during the present year with Poland and Czechoslovakia. The Agreement with Czechoslovakia is too recent for any question as to the volume of deliveries to be relevant at this stage.
Comparison between deliveries from, and to, the United Kingdom will give a false picture. Whereas on the Eastern European side the deliveries to be made to the United Kingdom are closely defined, these countries prefer the mention of a few important commodities only on our side and to be free to use their sterling earnings within the wide area of choice open to them not only in the United Kingdom but in the rest of the sterling area. Accordingly estimates of their contemplated purchases from the sterling area are not available. A statement of deliveries effected from the whole sterling area could only be obtained after considerable research.
The Agreement with Russia contemplated delivery of 750,000 tons of grain worth about £20 million and in the event 764,000 tons were delivered. The Agreement with Poland made provision for the supply of a wide range of foodstuffs and timber, among other goods, and deliveries in 1949 were estimated to reach about £18 million. Deliveries of many of these items are seasonal and it is too early yet to assess progress.
For our part we delivered to Russia the 25,000 tons of steel rails provided for, and tenders were submitted for practically all the items of capital equipment specified in the Agreement. According to the latest information the Russians have elected to place orders for about £4 million worth of this equipment and in addition they have placed orders for about £17 million worth of equipment not specified in the Agreement. Moreover they made considerable purchases of raw materials from the rest of the sterling area. As regards the commodities specified on our part in the Agreement with Poland, available information indicates that Polish purchases of wool, rubber and tin and other commodities are being made at the annual rate envisaged in the Agreement. but offers of other goods, e.g., rubber conveyor belting and crude oil have not been fully taken up. I am not aware of any dissatisfaction on the Polish side with the general progress of orders for capital equipment.