§ 45. Mr. Edwin Wainwrightasked the Secretary of State for Industry how many tons or lengths of large steel tubes have been imported for the North Sea oil operations during each of the past three years; what are the diameters of such tubes; and what are the names of the exporting countries.
§ Mr. MeacherInformation about the use of imported steel tubes is not available. The Overseas Trade Statistics (73.18) record imports for all purposes of steel tubes with an internal diameter exceeding 152mm. The table below gives tonnage of imports of such tubes by country of origin.
IMPORTS INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM OF SEAMLESS AND WELDED TUBES AND PIPES OF IRON (OTHER THAN CAST IRON) OR STEEL EXCEEDING 152MM IN INTERNAL DIAMETER '000 tonnes Country of Origin 1971 1972 1973 Germany, Western 1.8 28.9 132.7 Italy 10.5 0.4 39.0 Netherlands 5.9 5.3 21.5 Belgium 0.2 1.0 7.4 Other European countries 4.0 6.7 6.5 U.S.A. 2.5 0.9 23.2 Japan 31.7 61.9 81.7 Other countries 0.2 0.1 0.8 All Sources 56.8 105.2 312.8