HC Deb 25 February 1970 vol 796 cc1177-8
7. Mr. Biffen

asked the President of the Board of Trade what was the value of United Kingdom imports of temperate foodstuffs from Warsaw Pact countries in 1969 and 1968; and what is the expected figure for the current year.

Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody

About £38 million in both 1969 and 1968, covering food and live animals of a kind which are produced commercially in this country. I prefer not to venture a forecast for 1970.

Mr. Biffen

Is the hon. Lady aware that these are commodities the prices of which are politically determined by the Communist bloc countries, rather than commercially determined? Will she therefore bear in mind the very disturbing effect which their importation can have on the prices of other agricultural producers?

Mrs. Dunwoody

I am afraid that I do not know what the hon. Member means by that. I can assure him that we have means in our own legislation, if there is any question of a price being artificially fixed, to assess what we think an accurate price should be. He is well aware of that and of the fact that the Board of Trade watches the situation closely.

Mr. Maclennan

But does my hon. Friend not recognise that imports of Romanian sheep products have recently had a seriously damaging effect on the market of our own domestic producers, and that she has the responsibility for phasing these imports?

Mrs. Dunwoody

The Board of Trade is very well aware of its responsibilities in this field. My hon. Friend might like to know that the imports from Romania, particularly, have gone from £16 million in 1967 to £12 million in 1968 and down to £10 million in 1969. So he must keep these things in proportion.

Mr. Ridley

Is the hon. Lady aware that both the timings and the prices of many of these imports cause grave disruption of the whole market for agricultural produce? Will she assure us that she consults fully with the Ministry of Agriculture before sanctioning this sort of trade?

Mrs. Dunwoody

Hon. Members opposite can rest assured that our consultation processes with the Ministry of Agriculture are very well used and that we have a great deal of concern for the interests of the farmers of this country, but it helps no one if the constant line by some hon. Gentlemen opposite is that it is the Board of Trade's international trading policies which are damaging agriculture, when they know very well, on the facts, that this is not so.