HC Deb 27 July 1993 vol 229 cc948-9W
Mr. Milburn

To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many companies are involved in tanning of fur skins; and how many employees they have.

Mr. Sainsbury

This information is available only for the whole of the leather—tanning and dressing—and fellmongery industries. In 1991, there were 180 businesses with 6,500 employees, including working proprietors.

Mr. Milburn

To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how many(a) mink pelts and (b) Arctic fox pelts from British mink farms were exported in each year since 1988; and what was their value;

(2) how many British red fox pelts were exported in each year since 1988; and what was their value.

Mr. Needham

Official statistics do not distinguish between mink produced by British farms and re-exports, or between various species of fox. The available information is given in the table.

Numbers
1989 114
1990 93
1991 79
1992 57

Information for earlier years on employment and the number of businesses is not available.

Mr. Milburn

To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many import and export businesses were involved in the fur trade; and how many employees they had for each of the past five years.

Mr. Sainsbury

This information is not available.