Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what information they have on the quantity and value of UK industrial hemp exported to France for house construction.

HM Revenue & Customs (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 an Accredited National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website at the following link: http://www.uktradeinfo.com/.

Commodity Codes are used to identify the goods being imported and exported and these can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff. However, there is not a commodity code specifically covering industrial hemp used in the construction industry.

Hemp is classified to several commodity codes within headings 1404 (vegetable products note elsewhere specified or included), 5302 (true hemp) and 6808 (panels, board, tiles, blocks of vegetable fibre) of the Tariff. Whilst none of these are specific to hemp used in construction, 6808 includes hempcrete used as an insulation material with hemp fibres mixed with lime and water and made into, for example, insulating panels and boards. This may be the most appropriate heading containing the information requested.

The value and net mass in kilograms for the headings that may contain hemp for the years 2023 to 2025 are as follows: