Mr. H. Wilsonasked the President of the Board of Trade to make a statement on the operation of the arrangements under which United States cotton is supplied against shipments of cotton piece goods to Pakistan and to any other areas covered by this or similar schemes.
70WEgypt, the Sudan, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, respectively.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftFollowing are the figures:
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftUnder the Agreement made with Pakistan in April, 1955, cotton textiles to a value of some 5 million dollars have been supplied to Pakistan by the United Kingdom. United States raw cotton to a total of about 4.3 million dollars has been contracted for in payment for these textiles, and the balance has to be bought by 15th September.
Similar agreements for the supply of cotton textiles to Burma and Indonesia, as well as some additional textiles to Pakistan, have recently been concluded. Payment will again be taken in United States raw cotton of equivalent value.
The administrative arrangements for the original Pakistan deal were dealt with in a notice in the Board of Trade Journal of 7th May, 1955, and those for the additional Pakistan business in a memorandum circulated to the trade. I am sending the right hon. Gentleman copies of both these documents. I am satisfied that these arrangements afford the cotton textile industry an opportunity of export business which would not otherwise be available.
Mr. H. Wilsonasked the President of the Board of Trade to state the quantity and value of United States raw cotton supplied to this country in each recent 71W year, either for sterling or under any other special arrangement, which obviates the need for payment in dollars.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftThe United States Government have provided aid to the United Kingdom under the Mutual Security Acts in the form of reimbursement of the dollar cost of part of the United Kingdom's imports of United States raw cotton to the following extent:
U.S. Dollars 1952 1,232,928 1953 17,578,048 1954 14,534,821 1955 9,435,572 1956 (to date) 2,075,951 During the past year, the United States Government have also, as part of a grant of aid to Pakistan, made United States raw cotton available to the United Kingdom in payment for cotton yarn and textiles supplied to Pakistan under the United Kingdom/Pakistan Agreement of 29th April, 1955. The value of United States cotton which has so far been contracted for under these arrangements is approximately 4.3 million dollars, of which about 690,000 dollars has been shipped.
Figures of the quantities of cotton represented by the above values could not be obtained without a disproportionate expenditure of time and labour.