Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make a comparative assessment of how much potash was imported into the UK in the last six months and during the same period in the last three years.

HMRC is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website: www.uktradeinfo.com. From this website, it is also possible to build your own data tables based upon bespoke search criteria: https://www.uktradeinfo.com/trade-data/ots-custom-table.

Potash falls within commodity code chapter heading 281520: ‘Sodium hydroxide “caustic soda”, potassium hydroxide “caustic potash”; peroxides of sodium or potassium’. Forms of potash are also used in fertilisers and fall within commodity code chapter heading 3104. The full commodity code would depend on the specific compounds of the potash.

A data table showing the volumes of potash and fertilisers containing potash that were imported into the UK in the last six months compared to the last three years is provided separately.