37. Mr. Vaneasked the Paymaster-General how the supplies of oil entering this country during the last three months from countries where payment has to be made in dollars compare in quantity and cost with oil imported under similar conditions during the same period a year ago.
6W
§ Mr. MaudlingOver the period November, 1956-January, 1957, inclusive, 2.6 million tons of oil were imported into the United Kingdom from the dollar area, as compared with 1.5 million tons in the corresponding period a year ago. The c.i.f. values reported for Customs purposes were £31 million and £17 million respectively.
38. Mr. Vaneasked the Paymaster-General what proportion of the increase in the cost of oil from approximately £9,666,666 per million tons to £11,500,000 per million tons during the period of November, 1956, to January, 1957, as compared with the previous year represents an increase of cost of freight round the Cape and an increase of price paid to the producers, respectively.
§ Mr. MaudlingI regret that precise information is not available. Initially the main cause of higher oil prices was the increased cost of freight, but towards the end of the period producers' prices have also been increasing.