To ask the President of the Board of Trade how much coal has been imported so far in the current financial year; and how much he expects to be imported in the full year.

Information on the volume of coal imports is published monthly in "Energy Trends", a copy of which is available in the Library of the House. Since the completion of the single market at the end of 1992, total imports are having to be estimated while a new system is installed for providing data on imports from and through EC countries: the latest available estimate is for March 1993. I have not made an estimate of coal imports for 1993–94.