Balance of Trade: Bees Mr. Amess To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the UK's balance of trade in bees and bee products was in each year since 1997 in standard prices; and if he will make a statement. Mr. Thomas The following table gives HMRC overseas trade statistics for the value of trade in honey and wax. Data for trade in live bees cannot be separated from trade in other animals. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |Exports of natural honey|Exports of beeswax and other insect waxes|Imports of natural honey|Imports of beeswax and other insect waxes|Implicit balance| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1997|2.2 |1.2 |23.7 |1.4 |(21.7) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1998|1.6 |0.8 |20.9 |1.2 |(19.8) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1999|1.4 |0.4 |16.1 |1.4 |(15.6) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2000|1.5 |0.6 |16.4 |1.2 |(15.6) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2001|1.2 |0.2 |20.0 |1.2 |(19.8) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2002|2.8 |0.4 |34.1 |1.6 |(32.6) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2003|2.7 |0.6 |39.2 |1.5 |(37.4) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2004|3.2 |0.6 |39.7 |1.3 |(37.3) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2005|2.5 |0.4 |35.0 |1.4 |(33.4) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2006|2.9 |0.6 |38.5 |1.8 |(36.8) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2007|3.6 |0.5 |42.6 |1.4 |(39.9) | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------