§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Trade (1) how many synthetic fibre shirts entered Great Britain from the People's Republic of China in 1975;
(2) how many synthetic fibre shirts entered Great Britain from the People's Republic of China in the first six months of 1976; and what percentage increase this represents over the number imported in the first six months of 1975.
§ Mr. MeacherUnited Kingdom imports were as follows:
Number of shirts year 1975 18,672 January-June 1975 12,792 January-June 1976 430,548 The 1975 figures could include shirts of some other fibre so an exact comparison is not possible, but the 1976 figure does indicate a more than thirty-fold increase over the figure for the first six months of 1975.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Trade on what grounds and for what reasons his Department established a quota of 450,000 synthetic fibre shirts for the People's Republic of China for the current year.
§ Mr. MeacherThe quota was introduced in August in view of the sharp increase in imports of woven synthetic shirts from the People's Republic of China which had occurred in the first half of the year.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will give details of the average landed price of synthetic fibre shirts imported from the People's Republic of China; and what percentage this price represents of the average production costs of the United Kingdom equivalent.
Mr. Alan WilliamsI shall reply to the hon. Member as soon as possible and place a copy in the Library.