asked the Secretary of State for Trade whether he receives up-to-date information from the United Kingdom's overseas posts in the United States of America, Germany and Japan on the volume and price of manufactured goods exported and imported; and whether he will include such information in his monthly Press notice on trade figures.
The posts in these and other countries keep us informed of the latest available information as it is published. I doubt if the monthly Press notice on overseas trade is a suitable medium for publishing this data, which are by then several months old, but the export unit value indices of manufactures for these countries are already shown in the monthly article entitled "Economic Indicators of the EEC" which is published in Trade and Industry. We are reviewing our reporting of economic conditions in other countries in Trade and Industry and expect to be in a position to incorporate further information in the New Year.