HC Deb 21 November 1973 vol 864 cc454-6W
Mr. Rost

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will make a statement on the report of the Monopolies Commission on the supply and export of wire and fibre ropes.

Sir G. Howe

The report has been published today. The commission has found that monopoly conditions, as defined in the legislation in force when this report was submitted, prevail in the supply and export of wire and fibre ropes.

One supplier, British Ropes Ltd., has more than one-third of both the home and export markets. The commission has found that this company, because of its size and market share, is a price leader in the United Kingdom ropes industry. However, the company has not abused its monopoly position, nor made excessive profits as a result of that position.

In its examination of the export market, the commission considered that the various export agreements operated by export associations and individual companies were not necessarily against the public interest. The fact that the profitability of exports was lower than that of sales in the home market indicated to the commission that the export agreements were not operating against the interest of other countries but were a way of protecting the high standards of service and quality provided by United Kingdom manufacturers.

The commission has, however, found that two particular practices of British Ropes have operated against the public interest.

These practices are:

  1. i. the seeking or receiving from other manufacturers of information about the level of discounts allowed to particular home customers; and
  2. ii. the "flag" agreement under which Dutch, Norwegian and German manufacturers and British Ropes agree not to undercut each others' tender prices for supplies of ropes to ships of each others' respective countries.

As a remedy the commission recommended that British Ropes should

  1. i. cease giving, seeking or receiving information on discounts for home supplies; and
  2. ii. terminate the "flag" agreement in so far as it applies to the United Kingdom.

I accept the recommendations of this report in principle: I am asking the Director General of Fair Trading to discuss the implementation of the recommendations with the company which, I

UNITED KINGDOM EXPORTS*
Live animals† Meat—Fresh chilled or frozen
Fat Cattle Number Sheep (other than for breeding) Number Pigs (for all purposes) Number Bovine meat Tons Meat of Sheep Tons Pig meat Tons
1972
October … … 12,745 23,205 2,566 6,648 1,517 391
November … 13,904 28,909 3,340 6,978 1,369 266
December … 9,406 22,641 2,815 5,540 2,054 90
1973
January … … 7,751 27,660 1,809 4,091 2,845 164
February … 2,793 14,955 2,331 3,671 2,539 93
March … … 8,460 1,904 3,021 4,195 3,069 154
April … … 7,851 1,673 2,556 6,522 2,306 134
May … … 14,306 4,280 2,626 5,718 1,412 812
June … … 8,495 6,572 2,714 5,102 1,462 469
July … … 5,193 5,725 2,946 6,499 1,888 332
August … … 7,875 14,093 8,766 7,035 2,022 969
September … 5,014 14,752 10,310 6,700 2,326 1,816
* Includes exports from Northern Ireland.
† Live animals for slaughter are not consistently distinguished in the overseas trade statistics; the headings given are the nearest to this category. The issue of licences for the export of live sheep for slaughter, except from Northern Ireland to the Irish Republic, was suspended from 1st February 1973 and for cattle and pigs from 13th July 1973.

understand, has withdrawn from the "flag" agreement since the commission submitted the report to me.