§ Mr. Farrasked the Secretary of State for Trade what is the difference between the level of 1980 imports from countries covered by bilateral trade agreements under the multi-fibre arrangment and comparable 1982 quotas, in respect of the 25 products for which there is the greatest discrepancy between imports and quotas; and what would be the level of growth by 1986 if a 1 per cent. annual growth formula were applied to such products from 1980 onwards.
§ Mr. Peter ReesI regret the delay in replying to this question, but the information requested was not immediately available in the form requested. For ease of reference, those quotas concerned which are denominated in pieces have been converted into tonnes in accordance with the tables of equivalence contained in MFA bilateral agreements.
If the criterion for determining the greatest discrepancy between 1980 actual imports and 1982 quotas is taken as being the largest percentage variation between the two figures, the difference in the 25 most extreme cases out of a total of 123 categories amounts to 14,266 tonnes. Total imports in the 25 categories concerned in 1980 were 4,313 tonnes and a 1 per cent. annual growth rate for six years would increase this to 4,578 tonnes. Many of these categories were not subject to quota at all in 1980. All the 1982 quotas concerned are small and in comparatively insensitive areas.