TUESDAY 6 JULY 1999

MR PHILIP BRUCE and DR JOHN MOORE

  240. Do you feel that the Government ought to stop the importing of cement from countries that do not sign up to the Kyoto agreement to ensure you have a fair playing-field? Also, do you not feel that there ought to be an incentive to put cement back on to rail, where you were persuaded to go on to road previously?
  (Mr Bruce) On the first point, I think in the event that the Chancellor and the Government decide to impose a 50 per cent. Levy, then we would be insisting as much as we could that we are actually treated equitably because it is not correct for us, as a UK country—forget the cement industry—to be playing the white man and allow imports to come in from countries that are not actually being as rigorous as we are, and some sort of import levy or charge or duty should be imposed on product coming in from countries that do not have such a rigorous tax regime.

  241. So it will not upset your investments too much abroad?
  (Mr Bruce) Not at all. What we are sitting here saying is we are looking for a very competitive UK cement industry. That is what we are after, nothing other than that.

  242. And road back to rail?
  (Mr Bruce) In terms of rail, the Government is actually, in our view, being extremely helpful in the way they are offering assistance for rail projects that are seen as environmentally good, pulling road traffic off the roads and on to rail. We ourselves are looking at one particular project which is for raw material rather than for finished product.

  243. You have referred to the Australian system of voluntary agreements?
  (Mr Bruce) Yes, which we are trying to find more information about. I have a colleague in Australia, a company in Australia, that can supply information.

  244. So we can share that information?
  (Mr Bruce) Yes, indeed. I am trying to get some information from my Australian colleague and there are also measures that they have developed in terms of CO2 levels against a tonne of cement, so there is an indicative monitoring system that might be useful in future.

  245. And which countries in the world have a better record in terms of energy consumption per tonne produced of cement?
  (Mr Bruce) I think probably my friends the Lebanon, who have just built a world-class cement works. There are just two world-class cement works that are very efficient. In the United Kingdom we have under-invested in cement over the last ten to 15 years and I think the investment that has come forward means that we have now gone up with the best.
  (Dr Moore) It does depend on the raw materials being used, no one single process is the most efficient throughout the world.

  246. Thank you very much, gentlemen, that has been very helpful because we wanted a case study and perhaps the worst case study, if you do not mind my putting it like that. It has been very helpful to have an example of a capital-intensive, energy-intensive, relatively low-labour utilisation industry and we are very grateful for the time and trouble you have taken. If you can let us have a look at this Australian model, we would be very pleased to receive it.
  (Mr Bruce) Yes, I will get something to you.

  Chairman: Thank you very much, Mr Bruce and Dr Moore.