Christmas Trees Chris Huhne To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate his Department has made of the number of Christmas trees purchased in England that are (a) UK grown and (b) imported in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. Barry Gardiner The following table provides details of Christmas trees sold in the UK which are imported and UK grown for each year from 1997 to 2005. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Million | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |Imports|UK grown|Total sold| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1997 |0.4|5.0|5.4| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1998 |0.4|5.3|5.7| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1999 |0.4|6.0|6.4| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2000 |0.3|6.6|6.9| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2001 |0.5|6.2|6.7| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2002 |0.4|6.5|6.9| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2003 |0.6|7.5|8.1| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2004 |0.6|8.0|8.6| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2005 |0.5|8.0|8.5| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Note:Data prepared by Trade statistics, Agricultural Statistics and Analysis Division, DEFRASources:Imports—H M Revenue and CustomsUK grown—British Christmas Tree Growers Association| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UK grown sales are compiled by the British Christmas Tree Growers Association and are based on the best available information and intelligence sourced from the industry. Imports of Christmas trees are as recorded in the official Overseas Trade Statistics. The British Christmas Tree Growers Association forecast sales for 2006 of 7.6 million UK grown trees. The majority of imports occur in the latter part of the year, and consequently statistics on imports for 2006 are not yet available.