§ Mr. Hardyasked the Secretary of State for Trade what steps he is taking to protect the public and private sectors of the steel industry from unfair overseas competition; and if he will study the prices charged for imported steel and compare these with production costs.
§ Mr. Peter ReesWe have given—and continue to give—strong support to the Community's steel anti-crisis measures which aim inter alia to restore the steel industry to stability and profitability and to ward off the adverse effects of unfair competition. The measures include mandatory quotas for Community production of certain steels and voluntary production restraints for others, voluntary restraint arrangements between the Community and major steel exporting countries and a basic import price scheme designed to facilitate anti-dumping action against other suppliers.
There is also a system of surveillance licensing for most ECSC steels which enables us to monitor the price and 15W volume of imports from third countries. The overall effect of these measures has been greatly to reduce damage to the United Kingdom from unfair competition.