§ 28. Lieut.-Colonel Liptonasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give the monthly average throughput of the bacon factories in the United Kingdom during the period from July, 1954, to the latest month for which figures are available.
Mr. AmoryAs the answer to this Question contains a large number of figures, I will, with permission, circulate them in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Lieut.-Colonel LiptonCan the right hon. Gentleman say whether he is satisfied with the figures which he is going to publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT?
Mr. AmoryI do not know whether a particular level is something to be satisfied about or not. As I explained on the last occasion when we discussed this matter, the level of output is something that depends on demand on the one side and on the supply of suitable pigs on the other.
§ Mr. ChampionWill the right hon. Gentleman not agree that the fact that pork and bacon prices got out of balance this year has caused tremendous difficulty to pig producers throughout the industry?
Mr. AmoryI do agree that the lack of stability of prices is a difficult factor for producers, but the Government fix standard prices to give a fair return to the producers, and we do not attempt, and have never claimed to attempt, to discriminate between the use of the pig-meat, whether the pigmeat goes for bacon, for pork, or for any other purpose. That must be left to the market to decide.
§ Mr. CollinsDoes not the decline in throughput indicate that the Minister's answer to a previous Question was incorrect, and that producers are not satisfied with the present position?
Mr. AmoryI do not think that I have ever indicated in answer to a Question that producers were satisfied.
§ Mr. CollinsOh, yes.
Mr. AmoryAs a producer myself in days gone by, I did not feel I was ever satisfied with results. What I said was that one of the results has been a higher market return.
§ Following are the figures:
| UNITED KINGDOM—BACON PRODUCTION (WEEKLY AVERAGE) | |||
| '000 tons | |||
| Month | Weekly average | ||
| July, 1954 | … | … | 4.5 |
| August, 1954 | … | … | 4.8 |
| September, 1954 | … | … | 5.2 |
| October, 1954 | … | … | 5.5 |
| November, 1954 | … | … | 5.5 |
| December, 1954 | … | … | 4.6 |
| January, 1955 | … | … | 4.2 |
| February, 1955 | … | … | 4.9 |
| March, 1955 | … | … | 5.3 |
| April, 1955 | … | … | 5.6 |
| May, 1955 | … | … | 5.1 |
| June, 1955 | … | … | 4.4 |
| July, 1955 | … | … | 4.0 |
| August, 1955 | … | … | 4.1 |
| September, 1955 | … | … | 4.5 |
| October, 1955 | … | … | 5.0 |
§ 29. Lieut.-Colonel Liptonasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the maximum throughput which bacon factories in the United Kingdom are able to handle; and what is the latest available figure of the actual throughput.
Mr. AmoryThe highest output achieved by the bacon factories in the United Kingdom was an average weekly production of 5,600 tons. This was in April, 1955. Average weekly production in October, 1955, was 5,000 tons.
§ Lieut.-Colonel LiptonWill not this unsatisfactory reduction be considerably worsened by the recent fall in bacon pig prices, which will further reduce the quality of pigs going to the bacon factories, without any advantage whatever to the producers or to the consumers?
Mr. AmoryI think everything depends on the strength of the demand for bacon and pork respectively, neither of which I shall attempt to prophesy.