§ Mr. William Edwardsasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much additional imported butter he intends to allow into this country; from which countries it will be imported; and what representations he has received from the National Farmers' Union about the increased importation.
§ Mr. Anthony GrantThe Department announced on 4th November that in order to meet a temporary supply difficulty116W additional imports of 5,000 tons of butter were being authorised from established near-at-hand supplying countries with butter available for early delivery. Individual allocations have been made as follows:
Tons Belgium 50 Bulgaria 100 Finland 750 France 300 Hungary 100 Irish Republic 2,000 Netherlands 800 Poland 700 Rumania 200 The N.F.U. wrote to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on 20th October and in reply the Ministry made clear that this additional import was designed to meet a temporary shortage of blending butters and, in view of shortfalls from some suppliers, was not expected to result in actual imports exceeding the figure of 425,000 tons provided for in the import quota for 1970–71.