§ Mr. Mellishasked the Secretary of State for Trade what were the exports of woolled sheepskins in the raw to Spain in 1979 and 1980; and what steps the Government are taking or can take to prevent Spanish tanners undermining traditional British overseas markets in Europe for dressed sheepsking leather by pricing their leathers made from British rawstock below eqivalent British production made from the same rawstock simply because they have a price advantage through being able to buy Spanish woolskins in their protected home market at less than world market prices.
§ Mr. ParkinsonIn 1979 the value of United Kingdom exports to Spain of woolled sheep and lamb skins in the raw was £1,225,753. In the period January-October 1980, the value was £2,148,990. Action to control disruptive trade in raw or dressed skins could be taken by the Community under the 1970 agreement with Spain. Such action might consist of anti-dumping measures, import controls or export controls, as appropriate. I have, however, not received any recent requests for such action.
§ Mr. Mellishasked the Secretary of State for Trade (1) in view of the fact that Japan has urged the EEC to increase exports to Japan rather than restrict imports from Japan, what action the Government or the EEC are taking to allow the leather industry to follow this advice by having the quotas removed or substantially increased, at least in line with the special quotas to the United States of America and Australia;
(2) what are the global quotas for imports of leather and footwear into Japan for 1979, 1980 and 1981; and what steps he is taking, both independently and through the EEC, to have these quotas regularly published in advance of the period to which they refer.
§ Mr. ParkinsonDetails of the quotas are not published but I understand that for footwear the 1979 figure was about 375,000 pairs. We have pressed the Japanese Government, and will continue to press them, to publish the quotas. Further strong representations will also be made both by Her Majesty's Government and I understand, by the European Commission for the complete removal of the restrictions.
§ Mr. Mellishasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will take steps to limit imports from India into the EEC of finished leather, stitched shoe uppers or similar shoe components and footwear so long as India gives her manufacturers artificial advantages (a) by export taxes and quotas on simply tanned and unfinished leather,(b) by export cash subsidies on finished leather, footwear and other manufactured leather products and(c) by other subsidies such as reduced air freight charges.
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§ Mr. ParkinsonImports of these products from India are not sufficiently large to justify safeguard action consistent with our international trading obligations.
§ Mr. Mellishasked the Secretary of State for Trade if Her Majesty's Government will change the situation whereby the 1980 general system of preference rules and the proposals for 1981–85 duty-free entry for leather and footwear is restricted by quotas or ceilings, whereas cut soles, stitched uppers and similarly partly processed footwear and other components have no ceilings or quotas.
§ Mr. ParkinsonThe new generalised scheme of preferences for 1981 was agreed by the Council of Ministers on 16 December. Cut soles, stitched uppers and so on under tariff heading 64.05 remain non-sensitive, as in past years. The Government received no representations from British industry that duty-free imports of these products under the scheme were now giving rise to any difficulty.
§ Mr. Mellishasked the Secretary of State for Trade what measures the Government and the EEC have taken (a) to monitor exports of British and Community raw hides and skins, (b) to make such information available to the industry quickly, as is done in the United States of America where hides and skins are included on the strategic materials export list and (c) to protect this raw material supply for the British and Community industries in the event of a sudden raid on such supplies by countries which allow no reciprocity of access or no market opportunities or in the event of restrictions by major international suppliers of raw hides and skins like the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand.
§ Mr. ParkinsonThere is a Community system, operated by the Commission, to monitor exports of hides and skins. The Commission has stated that there would be consultations with industry should indications of problems emerge.
§ Mr. Mellishasked the Secretary of State for Trade, what were the levels of imports of leather footwear into the United Kingdom in 1979 and 1980; and what percentage share of the United Kingdom leather footwear market was held by British-made shoes during the same periods.
§ Mr. ParkinsonImports of leather footwear (excluding slippers and house shoes) were:
Value £ Thousands Pairs Thousands 1979 256,119 48,554 1979January-October 217,460 41,769 1980 January-October 212,254 39,723 It is estimated that the shares of the United Kingdom market for leather footwear (excluding slippers and house shoes) held by United Kingdom manufacturers with 25 or more employees were:
Value Pairs Per cent. Per cent. 1979 76.1 67.6 1979 January-September 75.3 67.0 1980 January-September 78.6 66.8
§ Mr. Mellishasked the Secretary of State for Trade what information he has as to the relative prices of men's leather footwear imported from Czechoslovakia and 351W Poland landed United Kingdom compared to (a) cost of production in the countries of origin, (b) retail selling prices in the United Kingdom, and (c) cost of production of equivalent British made footwear.
§ Mr. ParkinsonInformation is not availble to make comparisons in the form requested. In the period January to October 1980 the average landed price of men's leather footwear was £4.16 per pair from Czechoslovakia and £3.51 per pair from Poland. Dumping complaints with regard to certain imports from these countries are under consideration, and as part of this process attempts are being made to establish, in relation to the particular products concerned, the sort of information the right hon. Member refers to.
§ Mr. Mellishasked the Secretary of State for Trade what safeguards there are that the duty-free imports of leather and footwear which are given ceilings in the sensitive lists in the new general system of preference proposals cannot all be concentrated on the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. ParkinsonUnder next year's generalised scheme of preferences, for the most sensitive leather and footwear products, all the better-off and most competitive countries, who together account for a large proportion of GSP imports, will in each case be subject to individual tariff quotas allocated in advance amongst the member States. Tariff ceilings for the remaining suppliers will not be so allocated. There has been no recent evidence of a particular concentration of exports by the countries concerned on the United Kingdom market.