asked the President of the Board of Trade the annual quantity of plate tin exported during the year ended 31st December, 1951, or to the most convenient date, specifying the quantities and the countries of destination, and also the proposed export of tinplate for the similar period of 1952 together with the quantities and the countries of destination.

The Trade and Navigation Accounts show that the total amount of tinplate exported in the year ended 31st December, 1951, was 239,663 tons distributed as follows:

	Tons
British West Africa	2,486
Union of South Africa	12,405
British East Africa	3,871
India	13,248
Pakistan	10,925
Malaya	12,124
Australia	64,622
New Zealand	15,814
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan	3,464
Other Commonwealth Countries	9,497
Total Commonwealth, including Colonies	148,456
Irish Republic	1,159
Norway	1,975
Denmark	6,919
Netherlands	5,831
Spain	178
Egypt	3,906
Iran	5,874
Brazil	5,318
Uruguay	4,237
Argentine Republic	27,853
Other Foreign Countries	27,957
Total	239,663

These figures include quantities of tinplate, amounting in all to about 60,000 tons for the essential needs of British oil companies operating overseas. They do not, however, include exports of tinplate in the form of flattened cans: these are not shown separately in the Accounts, but they amounted, I understand, to some 7,000 tons.It is expected that direct exports of tinplate, including exports in the form of flattened cans, but excluding supplies for oil companies, will amount in 1952 to about 250,000 tons. Of this quantity about 170,000 tons is likely to go to Commonwealth countries, including the Colonies. Of the remainder, nearly one-third will go to European countries with which we have bilateral trade agreements under which we get supplies of scarce and essential raw materials. The balance will be sent to a number of other countries, as in 1951, largely to be used for packing essential foodstuffs for import into this country.