2
;
5.
Knit sweaters furnish a similar example. In 1976,
the EEC's imports of this item from third countries increased by 13.8%. The import penetration ratio rose from 25% to 26.3%. At the same time FEC production increased by 10.7%, partly for the domestic market and partly for export. Exports to third countries indeed increased by 76%
.6.
It is of course possible that these overall figures mask situations of disruption in particular Member States but even if they do, the existence of disruption cannot be established merely by measuring changes in the import penetration ratio, which must in any case for individual Kember States take account of imports from all sources including intra-EEC trade.
7.
When we look at the situation in particular Kember States, it is clear that the situation of the various sectors of the industry has indeed been affected by intra-EEC trade;
*
and that imports from other Member States must have caused some of the factory closures and loss of jobs on which the EEC
representative laid such emphasis in the Textiles Committee in
July.
8.
For instance, in the case of woven discontinuous synthetic fabrics, in 1976 intra-EEC trade was 20% higher than imports from third countries and was increasing faster than third country imports, while in the case of knitted sweaters, intra-EEC trade was 50% higher than imports from third countries in 1976, and again increasing faster.
9.
At the Member State level, in 1976 UK imports of woven synthetic fabrics from other EEC countries amounted to 40% of total imports and had increased by 8.7% over 1975 while imports from non-EEC countries had declined by 19%.
In the case
of woven trousers, UK imports from EEC countries in 1976 increased one-and-a-half times as rapidly as imports from non-EEC countries and reached over 10% of total UK imports.
/10.