TNAG-0387-FCO40-433-Exports-of-non-cotton-textiles-from-Hong-Kong-to-the-EEC-1973 — Page 12

GR 720 PRIORITY

CYPHER/CAT A

FM FCO 201450Z

RESTRICTED.

NEUTRAL

RESTRICTED

(TRD)

1973

TO PRIORITY BANGKOK TEL NO 264 OF 20 AUGUST/ AND TO BOGOTA INFO

SAVING UKREP BRUSSELS.

file?

1. IN 1972 HONG KONG AGREED TO OUR REQUEST VOLUNTARILY TO RESTRAIN

EXPORTS OF POLYESTER COTTON TEXTILES TO THE UK. SOUTH KOREA AND

TAIWAN COULD QUICKLY HAVE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF THE RESTRICTIONS

PLACED ON HONG KONG. WE THEREFORE AGREED SIMILAR VOLUNTARY RES-

TRAINTS WITH SOUTH KOREA AND TOOK PARALLEL ACTION ON IMPORTS FROM

TAIWAN. IMPORTS FROM JAPAN WERE ALREADY LIMITED BY BILATERAL AGREE-

MENT. THE RESTRAINTS WERE TO REMAIN IN FORCE AT THE AGREED LEVELS (FIGURES FOLLOW BY BAG) UNTIL THE END OF 1976 TO GIVE THE UK INDUSTRY TIME TO BUILD UP PRODUCTION AND BECOME INTERNATIONALLY

COMPETITIVE.

2. IMPORT LICENCES FROM OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE BEEN FREELY ISSUED, ON 5 JULY, HOWEVER, WE ISSUED A WARNING TO THE TRADE TO THE EFFECT THAT LICENCES WILL NO LONGER NECESSARILY BE FREELY AVAILABLE: THAT

FURTHER APPLICATIONS MAY MEET WITH SOME DELAY: THAT SOME APPLICATIONS

MAY BE REFUSED IN WHOLE OR IN PART: AND THAT THE VALIDITY OF LICENCES

ALREADY ISSUED MAY NOT BE EXTENDED IF THE GOODS ARE NOT IMPORTED

WITHIN 6 MONTHS, WE ALSO WARNED THE TRADE THAT ANY ORDERS NOT ALREADY

COVERED BY LICENCES MUST BE CONDITIONAL ON OBTAINING ONE. THE ACTION

HAS LED TO A NUMBER OF FURTHER APPLICATIONS FROM FIRMS ANXIOUS TO

SECURE A POSITION BEFORE ANY LIMITATIONS ARE IMPOSED. LICENCES GRANTED IN 4 MONTHS APRIL- JULY INCLUSIVE FOR POLYESTER/COTTON

IMPORTS FROM ALL LOW-COST SOURCES NOT SUBJECT TO RESTRAINT AMOUNTED

TO 19.1 MILLION SQ YDS, OF WHICH 10.7 MILLION SQ YDS WERE FROM

THAILAND AND 2.8 MILLION SQ YDS FROM COLOMBIA. THIS REPRESENTS AN

ANNUAL RATE OF IMPORTS OF 57.3 MILLION SQ YDS, 32.1 MN FROM THAILAND AND 8.4 MN FROM COLOMBIA, AND COMPARES WITH NEGLIGIBLE

PERFORMANCE UP TO THE PRESENT.

RESTRICTED

13. WE