§ Mr. ÖpikTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the tonnage of soft timbers imported from(a) Latvia, (b) Lithuania and (c) Estonia during each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [77200]
§ Mr. WilsonIt is possible to differentiate most, but not all, imported timbers between softwood and other timber. For those categories which can be distinguished, available figures for the imports of softwood from the Baltic States are:
(thousand metric tons) 1995 1996 1997 Latvia 352 449 718 Lithuania 38 73 97 Estonia 68 93 161 Source:
Eurostat Intra & Extra EU Trade
The figures cover Standard International Trade Classification (Rev3) 247.30, 247.40, 248.20 and 248.30.
§ Mr. ÖpikTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the output figures of softwoods for the UK timber industry over each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [77201]
§ Mr. WilsonInformation on the output of UK sawmills is available in "Product Sales and Trade, PRA17", published by the Office for National Statistics. A copy is held in the Library of the House. The latest year for which data is available is 1996.
§ Mr. ÖpikTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what reports he has assessed of illegal dumping of imported softwoods onto the UK market; and if he will make a statement. [77205]
§ Mr. WilsonI am aware of the difficulties being experienced by the UK soft wood industry and have had discussions with their representatives. However, it is the responsibility of the European Commission to investigate complaints about allegedly dumped imports into the EU. So far as I am aware the industry has not made a complaint to the European Commission about the dumping of soft wood.