§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Energy (1) on the basis of a projected EEC subsidy of £6.35 tonne, how he estimates that the National Coal Board should develop a viable inter-Community trade in coal on the assumption of a 608W National Coal Board price of £28 to £30 tonne and South African price of $42 tonne f.o.b. Rotterdam:
(2) what are the current policies ruling on the spot market in Rotterdam for steam coal and the quantities traded.
§ Mr. Norman LamontIn 1978 the Community imported some $3 million tonnes of third country coal under arrangements of less than one year's duration. In addition, several million tonnes of Community-produced coal were exported under similar arrangements. There is a wide range of prices depending upon quantities, calorific value, ash and sulphur content and other factors. For example figures of $30 to $49/tonne cif main continental ports were quoted in the 18 June edition of the authoritative American publication "Coal Week". It would be for the National Coal Board to judge what trade it might usefully wish and be able to develop in this context with a subsidy, just as it now has to do in the absence of one.