§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate his Department makes of the correlation between changes in the international competitiveness of United Kingdom manufacturing industry and changes in the balance of trade in manufactured goods.
§ Mr. ButcherThe international competitiveness of United Kingdom manufacturing industry reflects a wide range of factors, including both cost/price competitiveness, and "non-price" factors — design, product reliability, marketing effort, delivery performance, etc. Econometric analysis can produce estimates of the effects of changes in measured cost or price competitiveness on the volumes of United Kingdom manufactured exports and imports, but such estimates are subject to wide margins of error, and the Department has not made any of its own. Changes in the balance in value terms will be affected both by changes in volumes and by changes in export and import prices.