93. Major Lloydasked the Minister of Food if he will give the tonnage of canned meat which the Argentine has shipped or agreed to ship, corresponding to the tinplate exports already allocated during the last two quarters of 1950 and the first two quarters of 1951.
§ Mr. F. Willey9,636 tons of canned meat were imported from Argentina in the third quarter of 1950, 836 tons in the fourth quarter of 1950, and 355 tons in the first quarter of 1951. Figures for the second quarter of 1951 will not be available until late July.
§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Food how much meat and poultry, both canned and uncanned, respectively, have been exported from Britain since 1st January, 1950; and to which countries.
§ Mr. Webb,pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, Monday, 16th April, 1951, Vol. 486, c. 1443], supplied the following information:
In reply to your Question on 16th April I promised to provide figures showing exports of carcase and canned meats from this country since 1st January, 1950. As I said, there are no official figures in the precise form for which you asked and the extraction and collection of those set out in the attached table has necessarily taken some time. It is still impossible, I am afraid, to obtain details of the exports of canned poultry but, in any event, these are believed to have been very small.I should explain that during the period in question quantities of horseflesh were exported by private traders to certain countries. There are no separate records of these and they are included with the rest of the carcase meat exports For the same reason the figures include some quantities of offal imported by private traders during the period, but which they were obliged to re-export because the offals were found to be unsuitable. Even including such exports and re-exports as these, the total tonnage of carcase meat which went overseas represented only ⅓d. on the domestic ration for one week.Canned meats and meat products are not all separately recorded in the "meat classifications" of the official trade returns, mainly because of the difficulties of definition where, for instance a product contains meat and other ingredients. Where the records of my Department show that relatively substantial quantities of these products have been exported, but not included under the "meat classifications," I have supplemented the information contained in the official trade returns so as to provide a picture which does, I think, represent the approximate volume of total exports and re-exports of these products Even if all these 209W exports had consisted of meat alone, the quantity involved would have been the equivalent of about 0.10 lb. per consumer, mainly in the form of manufacturing quality meat, over the entire period of 14 months.As I have previously explained in the House, a substantial part of the export trade in canned
ESTIMATED TOTAL EXPORTS (UNITED KINGDOM EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS) FOR PERIOD 1ST JANUARY 1950–28TH FEBRUARY, 1951, EXCLUDING SUPPLIES TO THE CHANNEL ISLANDS Countries to which sent Meat of all kinds (except bacon and ham and poultry and game) other than canned, etc. Meat Products, including canned meats, sausages, pastes, meat pies, etc. Poultry and Game (other than canned) tons tons tons British Colonies 80.40 512.15 12.95 Canada .05 660.18 .20 Southern Rhodesia — 10.10 .05 Union of South Africa — .15 — New Zealand — — .55 Australia .20 5.80 .20 Ceylon and Dependencies — 1.75 1.60 Pakistan — 10.05 — India — .90 — Republic of Ireland — .15 — Total, British Commonwealth and Republic of Ireland 80.65 1,201.23 15.55 Sweden 23.55 20.40 .10 Norway 10.45 — — Denmark 1–30 27.20 — Germany 30.45 82.80 427.60 Netherlands 10.70 6.20 113.10 Belgium 91.05 (a) 4.75 82.50 France 284.40 (a) 11.35 .25 Switzerland 2.25 9.50 .35 Greece — 1.10 — Bulgaria — .95 — Greenland 6.75 — — Luxembourg — — 5.70 Netherlands Antilles — 1.85 — Belgian Congo — 3.25 — French West and Equatorial Africa 4.90 11.70 — Portuguese West Africa (including Angola) — 2.30 — Portuguese East Africa — 3.00 — Portuguese Possessions in India — 2.50 — Canary Islands — 1.50 — Libya — 11.85 — Syria — 3.15 — Lebanon — 48.90 — Jordan — 20.80 — Egypt .05 297.85 .15 Morocco — 2.05 — Liberia — .65 — Iraq — 6.70 — Iran — 5.45 — Burma — 2.30 — Thailand — 4.80 — Japan — 1.35 — U.S.A. 30 258.95 19.25 Guatemala — 1.15 — Venezuela — 5.10 — Ecuador — 2.10 — Peru — 21.75 — Other Foreign Countries — 2.85 .15 Total, Foreign Countries 446.15 888.10 649.15 TOTAL 546.80 2,089.33 664.70 (a) It is known that this is mainly horseflesh but the exact amount cannot be ascertained.
210Wmeats and meat products has been built up, in order to earn dollars and other foreign currencies by the enterprise of private traders and I should be most reluctant to withhold supplies of meat from these firms and so destroy the good will they have built up over a considerable period.