HC Deb 08 June 1961 vol 641 cc101-3W
Mr. Wingfield Digby

asked the President of the Board of Trade what is the extent of the United Kingdom's adverse balance of trade with the primary producing countries outside Europe, in particular Canada, the Argentine and Brazil; and what information he has about the extent to which the same countries are importing manufactured

TABLE 1
BALANCE OF TRADE WITH THE UNITED KINGDOM
— Imports (c.i.f.) into United Kingdom from:— Exports (including re-exports) (f.o.b.) from United Kingdom to:— Excess of imports (c.i.f.) over exports (f.o.b.)
Canada:
1958 … … … … … 308.6 193.6 115.0
1959 … … … … … 312.0 213.6 98.4
1960 … … … … … 375.1 219.5 155.6
Argentina:—
1958 … … … … … 104.4 33.0 71.4
1959 … … … … … 105.6 40.4 65.2
1960 … … … … … 98.0 42.1 55.9
Brazil:
1958 … … … … … 26.8 19.6 7.2
1959 … … … … … 37.1 13.6 23.5
1960 … … … … … 29.2 19.2 10.0
*Other primary producing countries outside Europe:
1958 … … … … … 1,970.0 1,910.2 59.8
1959 … … … … … 2,105.7 1,849.6 256.1
1960 … … … … … 2,240.8 2,004.4 236.4
† Taken as being countries other than U.S.A., Japan and members of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (excluding dependencies).

goods from the Common Market countries.

Mr. Maudling

The balance of trade between the United Kingdom and Canada, Argentine, Brazil and the other primary producing countries outside Europe is given in Table I below for each of the years 1958 to 1960. The figures given in this table are those returned in the monthly trade statistics in which imports are recorded on a c.i.f. valuation, whereas exports are valued on f.o.b. terms; hence the balance of trade with these countries as incorporated in the Balance of Payments White Papers which give imports and exports on a comparable (f.o.b.) basis is less adverse than that given in the table.

The value of exports of manufactured goods to the same countries by each member of the European Economic Community is given in Table II for 1958, 1959 and the first nine months of 1960; detailed figures for the fourth quarter of 1960 are not yet available.

TABLE II
EXPORTS OF MANUFACTURES FROM E.E.C. COUNTRIES*
£'m.
Exports from
Germany Federal Republic France Italy Belgium-Luxembourg Netherlands All E.E.C. Countries
To
Canada:
1958 36.4 12.1 7.9 11.9 5.4 73.8
1959 46.3 17.5 8.7 15.1 6.6 94.2
January-September, 1960 32.4 11.9 8.8 10.7 5.0 68.8
Argentina:
1958 44.6 12.1 20.9 22.2 6.9 106.6
1959 51.1 17.0 24.8 14.9 6.0 113.7
January-September, 1960 35.7 15.1 20.0 7.0 4.1 82.0
Brazil:
1958 54.2 17.0 11.7 4.8 3.5 91.2
1959 51.1 17.5 10.6 3.9 11.9 95.1
January-September, 1960 32.5 17.4 11.3 3.6 7.2 72.0
Other primary producing countries outside Europe:†
1958 906.8 739.3 257.5 228.5 164.4 2,296.4
1959 935.1 736.7 247.8 200.7 174.5 2,294.7
January-September, 1960 755.3 629.9 241.2 170.0 155.2 1,951.6
* S.I.T.C. Sections 5–8.
† Taken as being countries other than U.S.A., Japan and members of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (excluding dependencies).