asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, in respect of the United Kingdom's balance of payments with other members of the European Community taken

Seasonally-adjusted figures are not available for area-commodity analyses. Direct comparisons with figures given in the press notice should be treated with caution, particularly for those commodities that have definite seasonal patterns; for example, food.The available information is given in the tables:

IMPORTS FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY BY COMMODITY (Overseas Trade Statistics basis)
£ million, cif
						Manufactures excluding erratics (a)
	Total	Food bever ages and tobacco	Basic Materials	Fuels	Total Manufactures	Total	Semi-manufactures excluding precious stones & silver (PS)			Finished manufactures excluding ships, North Sea installations and aircraft (SNA)
							Total	Chemicals	Other	Total	Passenger Motor Cars	Other Consumer	Intermediate	Capital
SITC (Rev 3)	0-9	0+1	2+4	3	5-8	5-8 less SNAPS	5+6 less PS	5	6 less PS	7+8 less SNA	781.0	b	b	b
1986	44577	6054	1555	1423	35245	34575	12879	5345	7534	21696	3766
1987	49557	6372	1835	1447	39750	38913	14538	6058	8480	24375	3991
1986 Q4	12134	1682	468	336	9575	9393	3336	1328	2008	6057	918
1987 Q1	11674	1380	513	349	9396	9224	3504	1502	2001	5721	905
Q2	12218	1562	457	304	9861	9599	3585	1501	2085	6014	1067
Q3	12297	1630	408	435	9780	9596	3581	1514	2067	6015	1014
Q4	13368	1800	457	359	10713	10494	3869	1542	2327	6625	1005
1987 Nov	4610	616	154	131	3695	3597	1339	525	815	2257	361		N/A
Dec	4200	562	146	117	3362	3311	1167	480	687	2143	353
1988 Jan (c)	3997	461	139	109	3281	3204	1241	511	730	1963	395
Aug Oct 87	12329	1684	432	371	9804	9623	3659	10520	2139	5964	885
Nov Jan 88	12807	1638	438	357	10338	10112	3748	1516	2232	6364	1109
& change	+3.5	-2.5	+1.5	-3.5	+5.5	+5	+2.5	-0.5	+4.5	+6.5	+25

Source: Overseas Trade Statistics—1987 figures are provisional.Notes:(a) These are defined its ships, North Sea installations (together comprising SITC (REV 2) 793), aircraft (792) precious stones (667), and silver (681.1).(b) Based on the United Nations Broad Economic Categories end-use classification, not broken down by country detail.(c) Component series include an overstatement not yet available in commodity/area detail.

EXPORTS FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY BY COMMODITY (Overseas Trade Statistics basis)
£ million, fob
						Manufactures excluding erratics (a)
	Total	Food beverages and tobacco	Basic Materials	Fuels	Total Manufactures	Total	Semi-manufactures excluding precious stones & silver (PS)			Finished manufactures excluding ships, North sea installations and aircraft (SNA)
							Total	Chemicals	Other	Total	Passenger Motor Cars	Other Consumer	Intermediate	Capital
SITC (Rev 3)	0–9	0+1	2+4	3	5–8	5–8 less SNAPS	5+6 less PS	5	6 less PS	7+8 less SNA	781.0	b	b	b
1986	34996	3133	1409	5666	24345	22623	9257	4853	4404	13366	542
1987	39417	3218	1477	5715	28952	26953	10516	5482	5034	16437	770
1986 Q4	9959	1080	391	1226	7134	6609	2536	1288	1248	4073	180
1987 Q1	9676	783	485	1576	6820	6303	2543	1338	1205	3760	200
Q2	9696	706	362	1374	7240	6717	2627	1366	1261	4090	206
Q3	9267	758	311	1383	6802	6364	2519	1318	1201	3845	158
Q4	10777	972	319	1383	8090	7568	2826	1459	1367	4742	206
1987 Nov	3503	301	103	448	2646	2461	926	475	451	1535	77		N/A
Dec	3666	321	115	465	2761	2630	972	505	466	1658	71
1988 Jan (c)	2443	181	95	328	1836	1756	688	373	315	1069	70
Aug Oct 87	9575	858	302	1416	6985	6513	2517	1335	1183	3996	158
Nov Jan 88	9612	803	313	1241	7243	6848	2585	1353	1232	4263	218
& change	+0.5	-6.5	+3.5	-12.5	+3.5	+5	+2.5	+1.5	+4	+6.5	+37.5

Source: Overseas Trade Statistics—1987 figures are provisional.Notes:(a) These are defined as ships, North Sea installations (together comprising SITC (REV 2) 793), aircraft (792) precious stones (667), and silver (681.1).(b) Based on the United Nations Broad Economic Categories end-use classification, not broken down by country detail.(c) Component series include an overstatement not yet available in commodity/area detail.