§ LORD ARCHIBALDasked Her Majesty's Government whether they will
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U.K. Exports of Engineering Products U.K. Exports of capital goods Value of capital goods exports covered by E.C.G.D. (1) (2) (3) £ million £ million £ million 1951 … … 914 524 1950–51–20 1952 … … 991 583 1951–52–28 1953 … … 964 586 1952–53–31 1954 … … 1,007 590 1953–54–28 1955 … … 1,108 666 1954–55–37 1956 … … 1,262 763 1955–56–47 1957 … … 1,346 797 1956–57–79 1958 … … 1,387 1957–58–67 1959 … … 1,467 1958–59–98 1st Qtr., 1960 … … 418 1959–60–105 (1) Class D, Divisions 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 22 of the Trade and Navigation Accounts. (2) As defined in Economic Trends, August, 1959. (3) Under medium term standard policies. House adjourned at seventeen minutes before six o'clock. give the annual value, over the last ten years, of capital goods exported from this country; and will also state the value, in each year, of capital goods exported on credit (1) with payment due up to six months, and (2) over six months.
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEThe definition of capital goods is to some extent arbitrary and statistics are not fully analysed on that basis. The best available figures, covering the years 1950 to 1957, are given inEconomic Trends for August, 1959, published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office. These figures have not been brought up to date, but the table below shows that for the years 1951 to 1957 exports of capital goods amounted to about 60 per cent. of United Kingdom exports of engineering products as a whole, which include additionally goods such as passenger cars, spare parts for machinery, domestic electrical appliances and a variety of consumer goods.
The total value of capital goods exported on credit is not known, but the table shows the value of exports of capital goods for which medium term standard policies, each covering a contract for a period over 1 year and up to 5 years, were issued by the Export Credits Guarantee Department in each of the last ten financial years. The figures exclude contracts for constructional work and those covered by bank guarantees or loans under economic assistance.
House adjourned at seventeen minutes before six o'clock.