asked the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy why our exports of transport equipment, other than road vehicles, has dropped from over £27 million in value in the 11 months ending November 1977 to only £8.7 million in the same period in 1978.
Written Answers. - Transport Equipment Exports.
167.
I assume that the Deputy's question relates to the figures shown for Division 79, "Other Transport Equipment", in the provisional statistics of external trade for November 1978 recently issued by the Central Statistics Office. The difference in the returns as between the years 1977 and 1978 can be attributed to the completion, in 1977 of contracts involving exceptionally high values in the "ships, boats and other vessels for transport of goods" sectors; these accounted for over half of the relevant figure of £27.7 million shown for exports in the 11 months ending November 1977.
The Deputy will appreciate that because high value contracts in these sectors may take a number of years to complete and as their values for export statistics are recorded at the date of export, figures for exports under the relevant statistical division may from time to time show, as between succeeding periods, considerable variations which do not necessarily reflect a corresponding change in the level of activity in the sectors.