§ 4. Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for each of the last 10 years, imports and exports to Commonwealth countries, to the European Economic. Community and to the rest of the world.
§ Mr. BiffenYes. During the period in question, as is well known, trade with the rest of the European Community has greatly increased in relative importance and that with the Commonwealth has declined.
Following is the information: 287W
Common-wealth European Community Rest of World Imports c.i.f. £ thousand million 1971 2.1 2.8 4.9 1972 2.1 3.5 5.4 1973 2.7 5.3 197.8 1974 3.3 7.8 12.0 1975 3.4 8.9 11.8 1976 4.2 11.5 15.4 1977 4.6 14.2 17.4 1978 4.5 16.5 18.5 1979 5.0 20.9 21.0 1980 5.6 20.6 23.7 Exports f.o.b. £ thousand million 1971 1.9 2.6 4.6 1972 1.8 2.9 4.9 1973 2.1 3.9 6.1 1974 2.8 5.5 8.1 1975 3.3 6.4 9.9 1976 3.9 9.1 12.3 1977 4.8 11.8 15.4 1978 5.5 13.6 16.3 1979 5.2 17.5 17.9 1980 6.2 20.5 20.6 Crude Balance (exports valued f.o.b. less imports c.i.f) £ million 1971 -187 -249 -293 1972 -317 -590 -564 1973 -634 -1,335 -1,668 1974 -586 -2,333 -3,911 1975 -74 -2,481 -1,884 1976 -294 -2,403 -3,110 1977 +151 -2,312 -2,068 1978 +949 -2,926 -2,202 1979 +204 -3,409 -3,083 1980 +561 -78 3,030 Note: Figures throughout the period covered relate to the European Community and the Commonwealth as currently constituted, except that Bangladesh is omitted in 1971 and 1972 and that the New Hebrides are included in 1971–73.