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Mr. Moate
asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what are the latest figures for the United Kingdom surplus/deficit for visible trade with EFTA, and for invisible trade with EFTA, in 1973.
Sir G. Howe
An estimate of the visible trade deficit on a balance of payments basis has not yet been compiled for 1973 but the "crude" balance—that is, the difference between imports cif and exports fob as recorded in the Overseas Trade
| INDEX NUMBERS OF OUTPUT* | ||||||||
| Average 1973 = 100: not seasonally adjusted | ||||||||
| Week ending | ||||||||
| 24th November | 1st December | 8th December | 15th December | 22th December | 29th December† | |||
| Ethylene | … | … | N/A | N/A | 92‡ | |||
| Passenger cars‡ | … | … | N/A | N/A | 95‡ | |||
| Commercial vehicles§ | … | … | N/A | N/A | 100‡ | |||
| Television sets: | ||||||||
| Monochrome | … | … | N/A | N/A | 64‡ | |||
| Colour | … | … | N/A | N/A | 98‡ | |||
| Cement | … | … | 101 | 96 | 97 | 101 | 48|| | |
| Coal | … | … | 80 | 76 | 77 | 77 | 73 | 17 |
| Gas sent out | … | … | 136 | 155 | 146 | 155 | 147 | 122 |
| Crude steel | … | … | 111 | 102 | 103 | 104 | 93 | 35 |
| Week ending | ||||||
| 5th January | 12th January | 19th January | 26th January | |||
| Ethylene | … | … | N/A | 106 | 112 | 114 |
| Passenger cars‡ | … | … | 38 | 84 | 76 | 99 |
| Commercial vehicles§ | … | … | 32 | 71 | 73 | 80 |
| Television sets: | ||||||
| Monochrome | … | … | 51 | 77 | 76 | 81 |
| Colour | … | … | 64 | 106 | 109 | 109 |
| Cement | … | … | 43 | 60 | 68 | 75 |
| Coal | … | … | 34 | 72 | 71 | 69 |
| Gas sent out | … | … | 146 | 145 | 141 | 142 |
| Crude steel | … | … | 58 | 78 | 77 | 88 |
| * Partly estimated. Too much significance should not be attached to week by week movements in some of the series, which are highly variable. | ||||||
| † Affected by holidays. | ||||||
| ‡ Average for month of December. | ||||||
| § For cars and commercial vehicles output in 1973 was much reduced by industrial disputes. | ||||||
| || Average for two weeks | ||||||
| N/A—Not available | ||||||
Statistics—can be obtained from Tables II and V in the December issue of the Overseas Trade Statistics, an advance copy of which is in the House of Commons Library. Estimates of the invisible balance are not compiled.