Promotion (Hansard, 28 January 1993)

§ 7. Mr. Eastham
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what efforts he has made in the last year to promote British agriculture.

§ Mr. Curry
Agriculture Ministers take every opportunity to promote British agriculture. We have met, 1142 individually, representatives of more than 80 food companies, for example, to explore ways of meeting the challenges of the single market.

§ Mr. Eastham
When the Minister last met officials of the Meat and Livestock Commission, was adequate time spent discussing meat exports to Europe and the general feeling that it is being run on a shoe string? With greater effort, far more meat could be exported to Europe, with Britain enjoying a greater share of exports.

§ Mr. Curry
As a matter of fact, I meet the MLC regularly and that is what we discuss. The MLC has its own promotional activities. Indeed, I accompanied it to France a little while ago specifically to promote British meat. Our beef and lamb exports are doing very well; we export one third of all the lamb that we produce and there is also a healthy market for our pork. The MLC is showing the way to other organisations, but what will sell the meat is quality, and we have the quality.

§ Mr. Colin Shepherd
In his attempts to promote British agriculture, will my hon. Friend address with vigour the problems created by poultry meat inspection costs? Is he aware that independent assessments indicate that United Kingdom producers, especially those in my part of the world where the full costs of poultry meat inspection are applied, are some 5p per bird out compared with continental producers? The consequence of that is that we are being denied export opportunities and we are facing import threats as is evinced by Cargill's decision to locate its plant in France instead of in England.

§ Mr. Curry
My hon. Friend raises a serious point. We are conscious of the costs of inspection to the industry. Of course that was partly necessitated by the salmonella outbreak in the United Kingdom after which confidence in eggs and poultry meat reached a low level and we have had to build up that confidence. However, there has been a change in economic circumstances because of the devaluation of the pound and our chickens have become relatively more competitive. We will continue to address the problems of inspection to ensure that it is carried out as competitively as possible, always being aware of the need to retain the industry in the United Kingdom, not least Sun Valley, which is an outstanding company.