Question No. 6
Reply by the Hon. N.W.H. Macleod, JP, Secretary for Trade and Industry,
to a question by the Hon. NGAI Shiu-kit, OBE, JP,
in Legislative Council on 8 April 1987
Question: According to the 1987-88 Draft Estimates of
Expenditure the utilization rate of quotas made available under trade agreements with the European Economic Community in 1986-87 was 76.1%, which was markedly lower than the utilization rates of quotas made available by other trading partners, such as the U.S.A., Canada, Sweden and Norway, whose quotas were utilized at rates ranging from 96% to 100% : what are the reasons for this and what plans does the Government have to promote a higher utilization rate of EEC quotas in 1987-88?
Sir,
Clearly the main determinant of utilisation of
textile quotas is demand for the products under restraint,
hence utilisation varies from year to year. However, it is
true that utilisation of quota for the European Economic
Community (EEC) tends to be lower than for other markets,
and an important reason for this is that it is a relatively
inflexible agreement, with quotas divided up among the 12
Member States as well as among some 35 different products.
Thus whilst quotas for some products in some Member States
are fully utilized, in others the demand simply isn't there,
bringing the average utilisation down.
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