TNAG-0246-FCO40-282-Imports-of-textiles-from-Hong-Kong-to-UK-1970 — Page 17

Registry

No.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

DRAFT

letter

Type 1 +

From

Top Secret.

Secret.

Confidential.

Restricted. Unclassified.

PRIVACY MARKING

..In Confidence

To:-

J. Cater, Esq.,

Director Commerce and

Industry Department, Fire Brigade Bull`ing, HONG KONG

Telephone No. & Ext.

Department

Exports of Hong Kong Cotton Textiles to the

United Kingdon in 1971

We are approaching the end of the period covered

by the 1966-70 Heads of Agreement and it therefore

becomes necessery to consider the arrangements which

until

will operate next year he the introduction of the

tariff on Commonwealth cotton textile imports on

1 January, 1972. You are, of course,fully aware of

i

the background to MMG's decision to abandon quantitative

'imports of restrictions on jcotton textiles from the end of 1971 and

to introduce instead a tariff,

2.

We wish to extend the present quota controls for

the period to the end of 1971, with an allowance to

the restricted suppliers, including Hong Kong, of a

further 1 growth. Under the Heads of Agreement a

footnote to Paragraph C states that if the growth of

United Kingdom domestic consumption of cotton textile

goods were to increase markedly in excess of the

W

expected rate, would undertake to consider the

possibility of allowing an increased growth to all

restricted suppliers. No growth in consumption bas in

fact taken place, not even the modert amount we expected

and which led us to offer the 1% annual growth on the

quotas. (infeat,

eat, În 1964 our apparent consumption of

woven cotton cloth and made-up amounted to 1856m sq. yds.;

by 1969 it had fallen to 1580m sq. yds, and in the first

half of 1970 to 739m sq.

5.19

(115281) Dd. 391599 1,500 2/60 Hw.

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