§ Miss Boothroydasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he has made representations to the European Commission about the level of prices of scrap metal as a raw material.
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§ Mr. ButcherThe only grounds for making such representation under the Treaty of Paris are that there is a serious shortage. This is not the case as the United Kingdom has an annual surplus of supply over demand of the order of 4 million tonnes. However, I expect this subject to be on the agenda for discussion at the meeting of the Council of EC Industry Ministers on 26 March.