§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what is his estimate of the percentage manufactured-import content of United Kingdom exports of manufactures in standard industrial trade classification 7–8 in 1991 and of the increase since(a) 1970 and (b) 1979; and if he will publish a table showing for each year since 1970 and the current year to date the percentage increase in United Kingdom output of such manufactures together with the increase in the volume of output, imports and exports of (i) intermediate goods and (ii) semi-manufactures.
§ Mr. Needham[holding answer 30 October 1992]: The latest available analysis of the import content of manufactures is for 1985. Estimates of the destination of imports were published for 1985 by the Central Statistical Office in "Input-Output Tables for the UK, 1985" (table 6). Estimates were similarly published for some earlier years, including 1970 and 1979. These published data could be used to produce estimates of the import content of exports in SITC 7–8 for the earlier years, but only at disproportionate cost.
Output information is not available for finished manufactures, semi-manufactures or intermediate goods. These categories of goods are defined only in the trade classification. Volume indices for imports and exports of these categories are regularly published in tables B8 and C9 of the "Monthly Review of External Trade Statistics", which is available in the Library of the House.