asked the Secretary of State for Energy what are the most recent estimates of distributed stocks of coal, stating specifically the tonnages available to the Central Electricity Generating Board, the British Steel Corporation, private industry, and coal merchants.
Information on distributed stocks in Great Britain—excluding stocks held in merchants' yards mainly for the domestic market, and stocks held by the industrial sector—are published regularly in Table 8 of "Energy Trends", available in the Library of the House. The latest provisional figures available on this basis are in respect of 21st June when total distributed stocks were 18·4 million tons. Of this total 14·3 million tons were held by the Central Electricity Generating Board and 1·5 million tons by the British Steel Corporation.I regret that precise figures about the levels of stocks held by private industry and coal merchants are not available, but information, derived from a number of sources, is that, for the former, stocks
| 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | ||
| Coal | … | 69·6 | 64·9 | 58·2 | 67·1 | 58·6 |
| Oil | … | 10·3 | 11·8 | 15·7 | 13·9 | 14·1 |
are at present somewhat higher than normal for the time of the year and, for the latter, that the position is generally quite satisfactory.