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for the same period of 1968; but was this a significant
moderation? Growth rates naturally slackened as the
absolute totals grew larger. And compared with the
5% growth rate enshrined in the C.T.A., the growth rates
in non-cottons were very large indeed. The point was
that the import/consumption ratio for man made fibres
was now at the level that cotton was when the L.T.A.
was negotiated.
Comparing the first 8 months of 1968
with the same period for 1969 imports had risen from
935 million square yards to 1,191 million square yards.
Within the man made fibre family, the largest single
group was apparel, imports of which represented half
of total m.m.f. imports and, at 620 million square yards,
had increased by 74% in the first 8 months of 1969
compared with the same period last year.
5.
Mr. Blackman interposed to point out that
imports of man made fibre apparel had increased by 63%,
1967 over 1966, and now by another 74%; these increases
were in a particularly sensitive field as far as U.S.
labour was concerned since apparel products competed
with the labour intensive sector of the U.S. industry.
6.
In response to a question from Mr. Jordan,
Mr. Nehner confirmed that mill consumption of fibres
was taken as the measure of production and that U.S.
import figures with a few minor exceptions began at
/spun
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