§ Mr. Woolmerasked the Minister for Trade (1) what were the agreed limits on wool and woollen product imports from China in the four year trade agreement on textiles and clothing products;
(2) for each of the last four years, what where the actual levels of imports for each of the main heads of wool and woollen product imports from China;
(3) what were the main heads of the trade agreement in textiles and clothing with China; and if he will give his assessment of the actual outturn or performance against those heads;
(4) what import restraints have been imposed on textiles and clothing imports from China during the period of the four year trade agreement; what were the agreed limits on the imports of the products involved; and what were the actual levels of imports of those products in each of the four years of the agreement;
(5) when the trade agreement in textiles and clothing with China expires; what is the present stage of negotiations on a new agreement; and if he will make a statement.
431W
§ Mr. Peter Rees[pursuant to his reply, 17 January 1983, c. 67]: The European Community's bilateral textiles agreement with China divides textiles and clothing products covered by the agreement into 114 categories along similar lines to those used in bilateral agreements with MFA suppliers. Full details are available in the text of the agreement, published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, No. L345, 31 December 1979, a copy of which is available in the Library. Raw wool is outside the scope of the agreement. The main categories under which the direct products of wool fall are categories 46 (carded or combed wool), 47 (woollen yarn not for retail sale) 48 (worsted yarn not for retail sale), 49 (yarn for retail sale) and 50 (woven fabrics of wool). During the lifetime of the agreement there have been no imports from China under any of these categories except for category 50 where imports were 16 tonnes in 1980, 17 tonnes in 1981 and 17.2 tonnes January-October 1982. It has not therefore, been necessary to seek quotas on any of these products.
Some categories include woollen products along with those of other materials, for example categories 5
Table 1 1980 1981 1982 1983 Category Units Imports Quota Imports Quota Imports (Jan-Oct) Quota Quota 1 tonnes 40 61 2 62 58 63 64 2 tonnes 4,474 3,837 8,059 3,874 6,664 3,911 3,948 3 tonnes 35 40 64 40 68 40 40 4 '000 pieces 364 511 470 557 573 603 652 5 '000 pieces 691 1,077 847 1,126 1,129 1,175 1,226 6 '000 pieces 244 209 114 231 289 254 273 7 '000 pieces 125 157 181 162 122 167 172 8 '000 pieces 863 773 680 801 751 830 859 9 tonnes 370 340 289 378 367 421 461 10 & 11 '000 pieces 680 639 676 658 651 677 698 12 '000 pieces 128 577 557 702 524 830 962 14B '000 pieces 0 14 0 15 0 15 16 17 '000 pieces 0 36.7 20.4 37.8 14 39 40.1 18 tonnes 38 72 76 74 64 76 79 19 & 89 '000 pieces 126 4,552 2,839 5,156 2,533 5,730 6,347 20 & 39 tonnes 157 194 168 244 187 302 371 32 tonnes 187 310 142 354 366 391 430 37 tonnes 111 573 291 654 186 744 842 Table 2 16 '000 pieces 1 — 12 — 22 *30 *30 21 '000 pieces 133 250 118 265 99 281 298 25 '000 pieces 0 — 76 — 81 120 126 26 '000 pieces 7 — 93 — 166 320 333 27 '000 pieces 0 — 183 — 101 160 163 31 '000 pieces 186 285 264 302 168 320 339 68 tonnes 3 — 21 — 23 41 43 73 '000 pieces 108 — 262 190 104 201 213 75 '000 pieces 0 — 0 — 8 *9 *9 80 tonnes 14 — 63 — 54 105 111 82 tonnes 0 — 2 — 24 *24 *24 87 tonnes 4 — 13 — 30 55 59 * Provisional quotas pending agreement on definitive quotas.