§ 41. Mr. Sparksasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he is aware that the retail price of Danish butter has risen since control was removed; and what steps he will take by price control or otherwise to remedy this situation.
§ 50. Mrs. Mannasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether, in view of the fact that butter is now 4s. 6d. per 1b., he will consider placing long-term contracts for this commodity on Government account.
Mr. AmoryI am aware that in a free market the price of butter varies with supply and demand. I see no reason in this for resuming Government purchase or for the reimposition of price control or rationing. Butter is obtainable today at retail prices between 3s. 8d. and 4s. 6d. per 1b.
§ Mr. SparksIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that under the control agreement we were taking two-thirds of the total products of butter from Denmark at a very favourable price? If he is not prepared to renew that arrangement, will he tell the housewives, in particular, what steps he proposes to take to make this butter available to them at equally favourable prices?
Mr. AmoryThe hon. Member talks as if by making a Government contract we somehow avoided the harsh effects of the law of supply and demand. We do not do so, and today, if we made a Government contract, it would be upon the basis of today's market prices with the country concerned.
§ Mrs. MannHas the right hon. Gentleman not noticed that, just as his long-term contracts are expiring, both Danish and Australian butter have leaped up in price, as all the others are doing? To what hole-and-corner shop does he go to get butter at 3s. 8d. a 1b? Will not he consider renewing bulk purchases, especially with the Dominions?
Mr. AmoryPart of my last reply applies to the question which the hon. Lady has asked. I am not sure that there is not something wrong with the hon. Lady's marketing. I can assure the hon. Lady that Australian and New Zealand butter is obtainable today at between 3s. 8d. and 4s. 6d. a 1b. Shrinkage in the supply of Danish butter is partly seasonal, partly a result of the unusually dry summer and partly the result of new markets for Danish butter on the Continent.