En Clair and By Bag
Nicente Kaits
PRIORITY FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE TO CERTAIN MISSIONS
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TELNO. Guidance 76
1 April, 1969
(PG)
UNCLASSIFIED
My telegram No. 390 to Delhi (not to all).
Textile Council Report on United Kingdom Cotton and
Allied Textile Industry.
The Textile Council published a report on present performance and future prospects of the Cotton and Allied Textile
Industry on 31 March, This report results from a study of the productivity and efficiency of the industry carried out by the Council, and its predecessor the Cotton Board, following a suggestion made by the Board of Trade in June 1966.
Summary of Recommendations.
These
2, The report is concerned with that part of the textile
spinning industry which carries out the following operations: and doubling of cotton and short staple man-made fibres, the weaving of the yarn so produced and of continuous filament man-made fibre yarns and the finishing of these products. can be described as the operations of the "Lancashire" textile industry. The report reviews the industry's background and recent developments, the demand for its products, costs and profitability, labour questions, marketing and the future structure of the industry. It also discusses international trade in the context of the industry's structure and performance. Recommendations are made for action by both Government and the industry, some of which relate to the regulation of imports. The recommendations on imports are as follows:
(a) Her Majesty's Government's policy on cotton textile imports should be altered in such a way as to inspire the industry's confidence for the future.
(b) In the long term, the only acceptable way of creating stable trading conditions is to introduce a tariff on imports of cotton textiles, including made-up goods, from the Commonwealth. It is suggested that a tariff of 85 per cent of the full post- Kennedy Round m.f.n. rate should be introduced.
(c) In conjunction with (b) above, existing quota restrictions should be removed, providing that the United Kingdom retains the freedom to have equal recourse with other
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