(by Private Notice} asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he could give the House the figures relating to his statement on Monday on the import programme.
Yes, Sir. I am, with permission, arranging for those figures to be circulated today and also in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
The figures are as follow:
Imports
1. The Economic Survey for 1947 (Cmd. 7046) set out the pattern to which the importing Government Departments were working for the calendar year 1947:
| Year 1947 £ million (f.o.b.) | |
| Food and supplies for agriculture | 725 |
| Raw materials and supplies for industry | 525 |
| Machinery and equipment (including ships) | 60 |
| Petroleum products | 55 |
| Tobacco | 50 |
| Consumer goods | 35 |
| Film remittances | 18 |
| 1,468 |
2. The provisional import programme for the year mid-1947 to mid-1948, after allowing for the cuts announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 30th June. is:
| Mid-1947 to Mid-1948 £ million(f.o.b.) | |
| Food and supplies for agriculture | 840 |
| Raw material and supplies for industry | 640 |
| Machinery and equipment (including ships) | 55* |
| Petroleum products (including requirements of coal/oil conversion) | 80 |
| Tobacco | 40 |
| Consumer goods. | 30 |
| Film remittances | I5† |
| 1,700 | |
* This represents some increase for machinery over the Economic Survey figures for 1947. | |
| †Excluding possible effect of film import duty. | |
3. There is no significant change in the total volume of imports for the year mid-1947 to mid-1948 compared with that provided in the Economic Survey for the calendar year 1947; some items are increased and others decreased.
4. The major change is in prices. The Board of Trade index of import prices (which for various reasons tends to underestimate the rise) has moved as follows:
| 1938 = 100 | ||||
| June, 1946 | … | … | … | 203 |
| September, 1946 | … | … | 208 | |
| December, 1946. | … | … | … | 219 |
| March, 1947 | … | … | … | 229 |
| May, 1947 | … | … | … | 241 |
Exports
5. The Economic Survey set a target of 140 per cent. of 1938 export volume to be reached by the end of 1947. The
volume of exports has been moving as follows:
| … | … | … | 1938 = 100 | |
| 1946: | … | … | … | |
| 3rd Quarter | … | … | … | 104 |
| 4th Quarter | … | … | … | 111 |
| 1947: | … | … | … | |
| 1st Quartet | … | … | … | 100½ |
| April | … | … | … | 98 |
| May | … | … | … | 104 |
The target of 140 per cent. will not now be reached by the end of 1947, but the Government is planning on the basis of reaching it by the middle of 1948.
6. This would provide U.K. exports in the year mid-1947 to mid-1948 of £1,300-£1,350 million, compared with the present rate of about £1,100 million a year.
7. To achieve this target will require a steady expansion of exports of all kinds. and in particular a growth of textile exports by the spring of 1948 to a volume at least 20 per cent. above that reached so far this year. The achievement of this target must also, of course, depend upon a reasonably free access to overseas markets.