§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade what estimate he has made of the proportion of British exports of manufactures which may be being sold at a loss in the hope that the exchange rate will fall to a level which will make British goods competitive overseas.
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§ Mr. ParkinsonThe Department has no estimate of the proportion of exports being sold at a loss, let alone whether any such selling is solely due to hopes that the exchange rate will fall. The future competitiveness of United Kingdom exports depends also on our relative inflation rate and productivity growth and on non-price factors such as quality.