British Imports of Manufactures

Abstract

In recent years, a steadily increasing proportion of the import bill has been made up by goods which compete more or less directly with the output of British manufacturing industry. Table 1 gives an indication of the growing significance of these imports. They are divided into two major groups. The first includes manufactures for further industrial processing, including chemicals, iron and steel, paper and board and partly-finished textile manufactures. Non-ferrous metals have been excluded, because the proportion of consumption satisfied by British industry is relatively limited. The second group consists of imports of finished manufactures, including engineering products, vehicles, clothing and many miscellaneous manufactures.