HC Deb 16 December 1963 vol 686 cc819-21
1. Mr. Boyden

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in view of the conclusion of the International Sugar Council in April, 1963, that sugar requirements were considerably in excess of supplies, what steps he took to increase home production of sugar.

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr. Christopher Soames)

I would refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Sir A. Hurd) on 15th November.

Mr. Boyden

May I ask the Minister why the announcement was so long delayed? Surely there was an indication that there was going to be a shortage well before the crisis caused by the hurricane? Why were not steps taken earlier to increase home production?

Mr. Soames

Action was taken in plenty of time and the acreage has, in fact, been taken up.

Mr. Loveys

Would not my right hon. Friend agree that if there is a need to ensure against fluctuations of world sugar prices there might also be a need for growing more at home, and there might be a need to look at the question of siting factories more strategically in the country so as to avoid the present uneconomical transport arrangements?

Mr. Soames

My hon. Friend has a later Question relating to this point. At the moment we have factory capacity capable of handling all the beet produced in this country. If we opened a new factory it would mean closing down an existing one, and I do not think that that would be a sensible policy.

2. Mr. Boyden

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his estimate of the tonnage of white sugar likely to be produced from the British beet sugar acreage this year.

Mr. Soames

The current sugar beet crop is expected to produce the equivalent of 750,000 tons of white sugar.

Mr. Boyden

Following the Minister's reply to the first Question, may I ask whether he is aware that they are not producing much more in County Durham, in Northumberland, in the North Riding of Yorkshire and in Cumberland because of the absence of a sugar beet processing factory? Will the Minister seriously consider, as his hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Mr. Loveys) suggested, siting such a factory in the North so that more production can be made and more acreage can be taken up?

Mr. Soames

I fully understand that sugar beet growing counties would all like factories within their counties. Strategically placed all over the country there are a number of factories which, in order to be at the peak of efficiency, have to be of a certain size. We think that we have the right number of factories, and that they are distributed in broadly the right manner.

Mr. Peart

Will the right hon. Gentleman look at this again? We are anxious to have a factory in the North. I am not pleading for Cumberland. It should be in the North, but I would prefer one in Cumberland. Will the Minister look at this again?

Mr. Soames

I have looked at it and I think that we are right.

19. Mr. Lovey

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether the British Sugar Corporation has received sufficient offers from sugar beet growers to obtain the target of an extra 20,000 acres in 1964; and from which counties the offers have been received.

Mr. Soames

Yes, Sir. All the main sugar beet growing counties have responded.

Mr. Loveys

Would not my right hon. Friend agree that though there has been a welcome increase in the acreage in many parts of the country there has been a drastic reduction in sugar beet growing, at least in the South, over the last six or seven years and that this is still continuing? Would not he be prepared to make an adjustment in the present freight charge arrangements so that there may be less disincentive for the growers who are some distance from factories to grow sugar beet?

Mr. Soames

I suspected that my hon. Friend would ask a supplementary question of that nature in view of the supplementary question which he asked in connection with Question No. 1. My hon. Friend must remember that his county is not the only county where sugar beet is being grown and where there is no factory. Neither is it the only county where sugar beet growers would like to have a factory. If every county where sugar beet is grown had a factory the number of factories would be uneconomic.