§ Mr. Wyn Robertsasked the Secretary of State for Trade whether domestic appliances are at present imported from Eastern Europe, or whether it is expected that such appliances will be imported in the future, and, if so, from which countries; what kind of appliances they are; and in what quantities they are imported.
§ Mr. Meacher, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 12 March 1979; Vol. 964, c. 38], gave the following information:
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Imports of electrical and non-electrical household equipment consigned from Eastern European countries in 1978 were as follows: (Numbers) German Democratic Republic Poland Czechoslovakia Yugoslavia USSR Romania Hungary Bulgaria 1. Refrigerators 10,737 5,050 — 804 15,000 — 7,627 — 2. Electro-thermic appliances (cookers, boiling plates, grillers, roasters, toasters, kettles, coffee and tea makers, etc.) 33,500 34 26,048 1 — — — 12 3. Vacuum cleaners and floor polishers 7,800 8,721 800 — — 7,075 — — 4. Electric space heaters (including soil heating apparatus) — 100 96 — 350 — — — 5. Electric smoothing irons 261,042 33,340 53,916 — — — — — 6. Electric hairdressing apparatus (hair-dryers and curlers, etc.) 22,834 — — — — 4,848 — — 7. Food-grinders, mixers and fruit-juice extractors 99,000 — — — — — — — 8. Deep-freezers 3,359 — — — — — — — 9. Automatic clothes-washing machines (not exceeding 6 kg in capacity) — — — 7 — — — — 10. Dishwashers — 2 — — — — — — 11. Electric water heaters (including immersion heaters) — 32 — — — — — — SourceUnited Kingdom Overseas Trade Statistics, SITC (Rev 2) items 775.11, 21, 22, 30, 71, 73, 81–84 and 86.