§ LORD OGMOREasked Her Majesty's Government what were the value and volume of the total exports and imports from and to the Colonial territories for the years 1938, 1946 and 1951 distinguishing between the trade with the sterling area, the dollar area and the rest of the world and what sterling balances the Colonial territories now have in their favour with the sterling area.
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY of STATE FOR THE COLONIES (THE EARL OF MUNSTER)The following table gives a summary of the value of exports and imports from the Colonial territories for the years 1938, 1947 and 1951, information for 1946 not being readily available. Fuller details of the value of these exports and imports will be found in tables 3, 4, 5 and 6 of theDigest of Colonial Statistics, of 1025WA which I am sending the noble Lord a copy.
VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS AND IMPORTS FROM AND TO COLONIAL TERRITORIES Exports £ million f.o.b. Year Sterling Area Dollar Area Rest of World Unclassified Total 1938 72 37 71 5 185 1947 225 118 108 24 475 1951* 757 278 531 118 1,684 Imports £ million c.i.f. Year Sterling Area Dollar Area Rest of World Unclassified Total 1938 74 20 85 3 182 1947 228 115 164 26 533 1951* 667 112 628 70 1,477 * Still subject to revision. It is difficult to calculate satisfactory volume indices of imports into the Colonial territories but a start has been made and the results will be published as soon as sufficient data is available. Appendix Vb
SPECIFIED EXPORTS FROM COLONIAL TERRITORIES* Commodity '000 Long Tons £'000 1938 1946 1951† 1938 1946 1951† Petroleum Products‡ 3,155 3,012 9,604 6,153 9,045 67,714 Copper 258 181 313 10,113 10,377 60,357 Tin: (a) Metal 61 8 65 11,239 2,494 67,418 (b) Ores and Concentrates 11 14 12 1,506 2,962 9,149 Sugar 979 884 1,297 8,382 16,719 41,436 Rubber 404 378 696 24,942 47,309 353,080 Palm Oil 166 109 198 1,733 2,527 18,942 Palm Kernels 391 354 438 2,732 5,286 27,504 Cocoa 389 344 366 6,820 17,811 101,042 Groundnuts 216 316 186 1,579 6,325 13,388 Meat negligible negligible Fibres: (a) Cotton 92 52 90 4,363 6,752 38,714 (b) Sisal 129 137 182 1,869 4,814 30,844 Bauxite 376 1,234 2,153 421 1,629 3,683 Iron Ore§ 2,394 604 2,137 1,505 546 2,736 Lead — 6 12 — 291 2,062 Zinc — — 22 37 — 5,699 Hides and Skins║ 15 15 28 1,106 2,413 13,565 Kyanite — — 10 — — 177 Notes * The figures relate mainly to domestic exports (i.e. they exclude re-exports), where re-exports are not distinguished in the territorial trade returns, as in the case of Malaya, net exports (exports less imports) are given. †Including some provisional figures. ‡The figures are for Sarawak and Trinidad only, Brunei's exports being included in Sarawak's total exports. §Including 1,184,735 tons exported from Sierra Leone in 1951, but excluding it's value which is unpublished. ║Raw cattle hides, goat, sheep and lamb skins, and tanned sheep and goat skirts. Excluded from these figures were exports of unspecified hides and skins valued at £39,322 (1938), £216,325 (1946), and £575,414 (1951). House adjourned at a quarter past four o'clock.
1026WAof the Report on The Colonial Territories1951–52 (Cmd. 8553) gives volume indices of exports of primary products from Colonial territories for a series of years.
The total of sterling assets of the Colonial territories at the 30th June, 1952, was £1,155,000,000. This figure continues the series published on page 74 of Cmd. 8553.