asked the Secretary of State for Trade what figures are available of the value and volume of Japanese bearings imported into Great Britain.
Following is the latest available information for United Kingdom imports of bearings consigned from Japan:—
| Metric tones | £ thousand | |
| April 1977-March 1978 | ||
| Bearings: | ||
| Ball | 1,597·6 | 5,334 |
| Needle roller | 6·9 | 73 |
| Tapered roller | 964·0 | 2,173 |
| Cylindrical roller | 205·0 | 593 |
| Spherical roller | 169·5 | 380 |
| Other ball, roller or needle roller | 51·3 | 197 |
| Plain shaft* | 45·0 | 383 |
| Parts of ball, roller or needle roller bearings | 840·0 | 1,744 |
| Housings for ball, roller or needle roller bearings, whether or not incorporating bearings* | 374·3 | 542 |
| Plain housings, with or without plain bearings† | (0·4) | (2) |
| May 1977-April 1978 | ||
| Ball, roller or needle roller bearings and parts thereof | 3,686·0 | 10,202 |
| April 1977-March 1978 | ||
| Ball, roller or needle roller bearings and parts thereof | 3,834·2 | 10,494 |
| * Including parts, April-December 1977 only. | ||
| † January-April 1978 only | ||
asked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will open bilateral negotiations with the Japanese Government aimed at reducing the imports of Japanese bearings to Great Britain.
No. The European industry was concerned at the increasing share of the market being taken by low-priced imports from Japan and therefore applied for anti-dumping action. An antidumping duty was imposed at 15 per cent. but was suspended when the Japanese gave an undertaking to the EEC Commission in July last year to increase their prices by around 20 per cent., and as a result these imports are subject to Community price surveillance.Total Japanese imports of ball, roller and needle roller bearings into the United Kingdom were as follows:
| 1977 | tonnes | |||
| 1st quarter | … | … | … | 1,169 |
| 2nd quarter | … | … | … | 1,001 |
| 3rd quarter | … | … | … | 924 |
| 4th quarter | … | … | … | 1,116 |
| 1978 | ||||
| 1st quarter | … | … | … | 793 |