HC Deb 09 May 1962 vol 659 cc423-4
16. Mr. Clive Bossom

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will state the tonnage of frozen processed eggs which are expected to be imported into the United Kingdom this year.

Mr. Soames

Quantities imported will depend upon the requirements of traders. Consequently I cannot give any figure for the year as a whole, but total frozen whole egg imports to 31st March, were 4,702 tons compared with 4,633 tons during the same period of 1961.

Mr. Bossom

Can my right hon. Friend explain the figure of 31,000 tons which the egg producers have got hold of? I understand that this is made up of 10,000 tons of Chinese eggs; 6,000 tons of Polish eggs; 5,000 tons of eggs from miscellaneous countries; and 10,000 tons from Australia. Secondly, would not the production from home sources need only an extra 5,000 tons to meet usage? Could not my right hon. Friend liaise with his right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade, especially about Chinese and Polish eggs, because many of the producers regard these as dumped eggs?

Mr. Soames

As regards Poland, between 1st January and 31st March last year, 94 tons of eggs were imported. None have so far been imported this year. The figure which my hon. Friend quoted of 30,000 tons is a figure which some people have estimated as the number of eggs likely to come in, but the figures that we have available show that nothing like that is in prospect.

Mr. Bossom

Can my right hon. Friend assure the House that Polish and Chinese eggs will not come in this year?

Mr. Soames

I certainly cannot say that. The importation of frozen eggs is left to the trade. Naturally it is affected by the level of prices in this country and there is free trade with a tariff in this commodity, subject to anti-dumping legislation.

Mr. Hilton

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the whole question of importing eggs into this country at a time when home producers have plenty is something which is causing a lot of worry to egg producers in Norfolk in particular? Will he give an assurance that he will carefully watch the import of eggs into this country at a time when we are producing plenty of our own?

Mr. Soames

The figures that I gave show that imports this year are very similar to imports last year.

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