§ Mr. Morganasked the Secretary of State for Trade (1) what was the percentage increase in the quantity of hides imported into the United Kingdom from the Irish Republic between the first 637W quarter of 1979 and the corresponding quarter of 1980;
(2) what was the actual quantity of hides imported into the United Kingdom from the Irish Republic during the first quarter of 1980;
(3) what countries, apart from the Irish Republic, are the principal exporters of hides to the United Kingdom; and approximately what share percentage of United Kingdom hide imports is attributable to each of them.
§ Mr. ParkinsonIn 1979 the principal countries, other than the Irish Republic, from which our imports of calf skins and other bovine and equine hides came and their percentages by weight of total imports were as follows
Calf skins (SITC/R2 Sub-group 211.2): France (50 per cent.), USA (2 per cent.), Canada (2 per cent.) Australia (1 per cent).Other bovine and equine hides (SITC/R2 Sub-group 211.1): Denmark (11 per cent.), Federal Republic of Germany (7 per cent), Sweden (7 per cent.), Norway (4 per cent.), USA (3 per cent.), Thailand (2 per cent.), USSR (2 per cent.), Netherlands (2 per cent).The quantity of these hides imported from the Irish Republic in the period January-March 1980 and the percentage increase which this represented compared with the same months of 1979 are shown below:
Calf skins: 353 tonnes (increase 36 per cent.);Other bovine and equine hides: 4,922 tonnes (increase 79 per cent).Imports recorded under the heading of bovine and equine hides consist almost entirely of bovine hides. Figures for the early months of 1979 may have been distorted by the effects of industrial disputes: the percentage changes should therefore be interpreted with caution.