HL Deb 15 July 1947 vol 150 cc632-5
VISCOUNT BLEDISLOE

My Lords, I beg to ask His Majesty's Government the question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

[The question was as follows:

To ask His Majesty's Government, whether, in view of a prospective shortage in the supply of essential foods in Great Britain and on the Continent of Europe for at least another two years, they can give at once to primary producers in Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere in the British Commonwealth and Empire such assurances with regard to the market for their output as are necessary to give them full confidence in augmenting as much as possible their production of food for export.]

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS (VISCOUNT ADDISON)

My Lords, there is not the slightest doubt that for a long time to come not only shall we require the maximum production of food by our own farmers but we shall also need from Australia and New Zealand and other parts of the Commonwealth as much as they can produce of all the main foods with which they supply us. The world shortage of such important foods as meat, grain, butter, cheese, condensed and dried milk, eggs, oils and fats, sugar and cocoa, is likely to continue for considerably more than two years. Our own demand for these foods as a result of the general increase in purchasing power since prewar days has risen to and is likely to remain at a substantially higher level than before the war.

We must, in present circumstances, satisfy this demand as far as possible from our own production and from non-dollar sources of supply. On the other hand, both our interest as consumers and our international obligations require that we pay due regard to price and other commercial considerations if we are to take as much food as they and we would wish. As the noble Viscount is aware, it is the policy of the United Kingdom in order to give producers in the exporting countries the necessary confidence to maintain or increase their production for export, to enter into medium or Long-term contracts to purchase their exportable output of food on agreed terms. I propose to publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT as an appendix to this answer a list of the

LONG TERM CONTRACTS WITH COMMONWEALTH COUNTRIES.
Country. Commodity. Quantity. Period.
(maximum each season)
Australia Shell Eggs 1,000,000 boxes Long term contract entered into to 30th June, 1950 covering maximum quantities to be supplied each season.
Frozen Whole Eggs 13,500 tons
Sugar Dried Egg 2,700 tons
Dried Whole Egg 450 tons
Frozen Albumen 50 tons
Dried Fruit — Long term contract up to 1948 the purchase on a Government to Government basis.
Butter and Cheese Exportable surplus Long term contract to 31st July, 1950
Milk Powder 4,000 tons Long term contract to 30th June, 1948, with option of extension to 1950.
Sugar Exportable surplus Long term contract until end 1949.
Meat—
Boef Exportable surplus Long term contract to 30th September, 1948.
Lamb
Mutton
Veal
Pigmeat
Offals
Canned
New Zealand Vitamin "A" Oils We have 2 years contract to December, 1948.
Butter and Cheese Exportable surplus Long term contract to 31.7.50.
Canned Milk 500,000 cases Long term contract to 30th July, 1949, with option of extension to 1950.
Milk Powder 15,000 tons Long term contract to 30th July, 1948 with option of extension to 1950.
Meat:—
Beef Exportable surplus Long term contract to 30th September, 1950.
Lamb
Mutton
Veal
Pigmeat
Offals
Canned
Canada Bacon Minimum 156,000 tons 1947.
Minimum 179,000 tons 1948.
Meat:—Beef 120,000,000 lbs. Long term contract to 31st December, 1948.
Wheat and flour 1946/8 160,000 bushels annually. Long term contract to 31st July, 1950.
1948/50 140,000 bushels annually.

existing contracts in so far as they affect Commonwealth countries. The noble Viscount will see from this that a large proportion of the foods produced by Commonwealth countries is in fact covered by contracts of this kind. We have every intention of continuing this policy and I do not think there can be any better evidence of our desire to establish in the minds of Commonwealth producers that confidence in the future market for their output which they naturally require.

Following is the list referred to:

Country. Commodity. Quantity. Period.
Canada—cont. Eggs, shell— (Maximum each season)
Spring fresh eggs. 700,000 boxes. Long term contract to 31st January, 1949.
Fall fresh eggs 450,000 boxes.
Stored eggs 600,000 boxes
Sugar dried egg 7,500 tons
Cheese 125,000,000 lbs. annually. Long term contract to 31st March, 1949.
Canned milk 600,000 cases annually Long term contract to 31st March, 1948.
Milk Powder 8,000,000 lbs. Government to Government contract until end 1947.
South Africa Sugar Exportable surplus Long term contract until end 1949.
Ceylon Copra and coconut oil. Exportable surplus, Long term contract to 31st December, 1950.
British East Africa Sugar Exportable surplus Long term contract to 31st December, 1949.
Copra and coconut oil — Long term contract to end December, 1950.
Coffee 24,000 tons annually. Long term contract for 5 years.
Jamaica Coffee 2,000 tons annually Long term contract to 31st December, 1952.
Malaya. Palm Oil — Long term contract to end December, 1950.
Fiji Sugar Exportable surplus Long term contract to 31st December, 1949.
British Guiana Sugar Exportable surplus Long term contract to 31st December, 1949.
Zanzibar. Copra and coconut oil Exportable surplus Long term contract to 31st December, 1950.
Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika and Bukoba. Coffee Fixed annual quantities Long term contracts for 5 years.
VISCOUNT BLEDISLOE

My Lords, I am very much obliged to the Leader of the House for the answer which he has given. I am sure it will give great encouragement to those who intend to benefit us in the Old Country, and who farm in non-dollar countries. I suppose I may assume from the noble Viscount's answer that he does not anticipate any appreciable slump in the prices of the more essential foods raised in these countries, at any rate, in the next two years.

VISCOUNT ADDISON

I must not be taken as saying anything confidently on the matter of prices. They will be subject to sensible negotiation.