Beer and Lager (Hansard, 18 July 1991)

§ 10. Mrs. Currie
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the balance of trade in beer and lager products.

§ Mr. Curry
Net imports of beer and lager were valued at just under £89 million in 1990.

§ Mrs. Currie
As the Minister knows, many of my constituents work in Burton-on-Trent breweries run by companies such as Bass. Is not it a disgrace that we should have a trade deficit in beer and lager products? Given that many lager drinkers cannot tell the difference anyway, should we not be able to make Australian-type, Canadian-type, Danish-type and German-type lagers in Britain? If we can manufacture Japanese cars in this country and sell them successfully to Japan, why on earth do we have a trade deficit in beer and lager products, instead of a great big surplus?

§ Mr. Curry
I was born in Burton-on-Trent and no one could feel a greater desire than mine for its products to be exported much more widely.

§ Mr. Ron Davies
Is not it a sad reflection on a country with such a fine tradition of brewing that we now import twice as much beer and lager as we export? Is not that typical of the state of our trade balance in the food and drinks sector generally which currently has a deficit of over £5 billion? If the French, German and Dutch Governments can support their export initiatives, why on earth do our Government refuse to back British export initiatives and British interests?

§ Mr. Curry
First, the British Government provide such support; secondly, the breweries are, on the whole, extremely large companies and quite capable of being in the export business themselves: thirdly, the exporting habit is, unfortunately, not as widespread in the United Kingdom as it should be.
We have considerably expanded our beer and lager exports. Many of the lagers that are sold here are brewed in the United Kingdom under licence and there is no reason why—if we pay more attention to priorities—we should not be able to export more British lagers to the European Community. When my right hon. Friend the Minister and I visit Brussels, we never find it impossible to locate a hostelry offering British beer in the capital of Europe.