HC Deb 20 May 1976 vol 911 cc670-3W
Mr. Reid

asked the Secretary of State for Trade (1) if he will list under country of origin the total imports of pulp into (a) Scotland and (b) the United Kingdom during the years 1950, 1960, 1965 and in each year since 1970, inclusive;

(2) what has been the volume, in tonnes, and the value in pounds sterling, of paper imported into (a) Scotland and (b) the United Kingdom during the years 1950, 1960, 1965 and in each year since 1970, inclusive.

Mr. Meacher

Information for Scotland is not available as trade figures are not compiled separately for individual countries within the United Kingdom. Following is the information for the United Kingdom:

1950 1960 1965 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 January-March 1976
Pulp*—
Total, thousand metric tons … … … 1,670 2,481 2,664 2,784 2,064 2,215 2,183 2,305 1,770 557
of which consigned from:—
Sweden … … … 542 870 910 883 690 713 788 814 597 170
Canada … … … 64 242 301 347 292 386 317 381 369 96
Norway … … … 259 453 501 544 402 368 371 369 211 75
Finland … … … 404 514 593 494 343 370 335 272 208 66
U.S.A … … … 6 204 114 268 164 155 126 250 235 47
Other countries … … … 396 198 245 247 174 222 245 219 151 102
Paper†—
thousand metric tons … … … 578 1,426 1,720 2,505 2,645 3,050 3,261 3,723 2,652 726
£ million … … … 24.7 84.3 106.4 204.1 227.7 276.7 351.9 645.0 548.9 157.7
* Includes waste paper for use in paper making, and excludes chemical wood pulp for use in the textile industry.
† Excludes building board and wallpaper.

Mr. Peter Mills

asked the Secretary of State for Trade what steps his Department will take to safeguard the British paper industry from heavily subsidised imports from abroad.

Mr. Meacher

My Department is considering allegations by the British paper industry that dumped or subsidised paper is being imported into the United Kingdom in quantities likely to cause material injury. The evidence that has so far become available is not sufficient to justify acceptance of the industry's application for formal investigation. But we will quickly and thoroughly examine any prima facie evidence of dumping that is presented to us.