Skip to main content

Raw Materials And Food (Stocks)

Volume 487: debated on Monday 7 May 1951

The text on this page has been created from Hansard archive content, it may contain typographical errors.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the total stocks in volume in April, 1945, of cotton, wool, tea, sugar, meat, rubber, tin, copper, grains, lead and zinc, respectively.

The total stocks, Government and private, in the United Kingdom of the undermentioned commodities at the end of April, 1945, as published in the Monthly Digest of Statistics, were, in thousand tons:

Cotton339
Wool245*
Natural rubber41
Tin34†
Virgin copper245
Virgin lead142
Virgin zinc170
* Actual weight, mainly greasy.
† Tin metal and metal content of tin ore.
It is not the practice to publish particulars of the stocks of foodstuffs.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the amount of stocks of cotton, wool, tea, sugar, meat, rubber, tin, copper, grains, lead and zinc, sold in the years April, 1945, to April, 1946, April, 1946, to April, 1947, and April, 1947, to April, 1948, respectively; and the amount received for the sale of these stocks, giving in each case profit or loss on each transaction, and basing the estimate on such profit or loss on the average cost of the stocks less the price realised on sale.

I assume that the hon. and learned Member's Question refers to trading on Government account. Sales of these raw materials ex-stocks cannot be segregated from total sales; nor can the profit or loss be given on the basis referred to. The following table, however, gives total sales of the commodities concerned by quantity and value, and the profit or loss on the basis adopted in the published Trading Accounts. The quantity and value figures are not in all cases comparable, principally because complete quantity figures were not maintained for the less important items in the trading controls' accounts.

RESULTS OF GOVERNMENT TRADING SERVICES IN CERTAIN RAW MATERIALS AND FOODSTUFFS
(1ST APRIL, 1945, TO 31 MARCH, 1948)
Commodity1945–46 Sales (a)Profit (+) or Loss (-)1946–47 Sales (a)Profit (+) or Loss (-)1947–48 Sales (a)Profit (+) or Loss (-)
QuantityValueQuantityValueQuantityValue
££££££
Tin (b) (c)49,374 tons13,955,573916,66874,015 tons23,061,889+109,29979,703 tons31,988,495+1,692,037
Copper (b) (c)382,252 tons23,572,076-1,892,172329,304 tons24,193,394-238,398383,251 tons44,023,731+ 2,567,425
Lead (b) (c)217,108 tons6,037,634918,813165,029 tons7,284,335-1,107,253183,489 tons13,864,529+ 1,355,906
Zinc (b) (c)347,159 tons6,397,817-1,280,400363,686 tons10,241,222704,925240,784 tons15,545,654+ 1,045,534
Cotton (d)2,034,796 bales43,981,332-2,106,2382,140,310 bales55,257,807+3,148,3103,071,423 bales118,571,493+ 27,982,686
Rubber (e)296,000 tons44,628,690-2,989,169348,000 tons40,583,214-2,253,442103,000 tons4,580,172-2,308,039
Wool (f) (g) (h)454,371,000 lbs.34,671,872+ 1,574,706 (f)238,661,000 lbs.14,144,103+ 918,086 (i)58,000,000 lbs.6,407,061+ 640,699
Tea (j) (k)328,518 tons74,491,300-2,902,496324,885 tons74,625,709-4,833,517173,605 tons47,083,210-9,173,628
Sugar (j)2,365,089 tons54,032,417-15,666,7763,049,765 tons57,258,957-23,625,4812,782,135 tons85,771,643-28,357,933
Meat (j) (l)2,093,143 tons219,242,029-32,409,3292,127,938 tons230,964,527-35,856,6931,835,333 tons200,644,648-53,967,982
Cereals (including flour) (j) (m)8,305,419 tons153,699,230-59,048,0008,895,928 tons151,619,781-57,371,7078,032,477 tons187,613,033-89,641,659

NOTES
(a) Sales figures include sales in the U.K., shipments abroad ex U.K. stocks and direct shipments from countries of procurement.
(b) The quantities given cover the metals in their various specifications, including ores and concentrates.
(c) The profit or loss excludes administration charges and interest on capital, which are not apportioned to the individual non-ferrous metals in the published Trading Accounts.
(d)The quantity figures cover raw cotton, waste, linters and non-spinning cotton for 1945–47. For 1947–48 the figures cover nine months trading in raw cotton and twelve months trading in waste and linters, as responsibility for raw cotton passed to the Raw Cotton Commission from 1st January, 1948. Stocks transferred to the Raw Cotton Commission have been included in "sales" at valuation on transfer.
The quantity figures exclude but the value figures include farina, oils and fats, samples and warehouse sweepings, plus some yarn transactions in the last period.
(e) The quantity figures include crude rubber and latex, synthetic rubber and latex, reclaimed rubber and scrap rubber. The quantity figures exclude and the value figures include carbon black, silene, compounding materials, tyre fabric materials, rubber gloves, and certain acid sales in Ceylon.
(f) The figures relate in the main to the home clip, but cover e.g. wool, sheepskins, salvage and clippings, matchings and tops, broken tops, noils and comber waste. Pelts, farrier and other skins, spetches, wool dirt residue, bagging and tares are excluded from the quantity but included in the value figures.
(g) Periods: 1945–46…August 1945 to July 1946 (Board of Trade).
1946–47…August 1946 to July 1947 (Board of Trade).
1947–48…May 1947 to April 1948 (Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries).
(h) The figures exclude transactions by or on behalf of U.K.-Dominion Wool Disposals Ltd., whose accounts for the period were published in Cmd. 7714 and 7867.
(i) Subsidies were paid in these years and the figures given include them.
(j) The figures quoted in the profit or loss columns are the deficits incurred, i.e. subsidies given.
(k) Direct shipments abroad under international allocation ceased in 1946–47.
(l) Includes poultry and rabbits.
(m) Deficits include subsidies paid direct to certain processors.