HC Deb 04 November 1970 vol 805 cc386-7W
Earl of Dalkeith

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a table showing the trade balance between Great Britain and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in each of the last three years, together with his forecast for 1970 and the value of timber products imported therefrom.

Mr. Anthony Grant

Figures for the trade balance are not available for individual countries. Figures of imports c.i.f. and exports f.o.b. are published, but the difference between them is not a good measure of the visible trade balance because, inter alia, of the difference in the bases of valuation.

United Kingdom imports of timber products from the Soviet Union were:

£ million
1967 … 6.8
1968 … 7.8
1969 … 7.5
1970 (January-September) … 5.5
I prefer not to venture an estimate for 1970 as a whole.