§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what is his estimate of the increase in the forecast cost of the pig guarantee for 1971–72 resulting from the lower prices in the 1971–72 National Bacon Pig Contract in relation to the standard price for pigs;
(2) what is his estimate of the reduction in the cost of the bacon stabilisation arrangements for 1971–72 resulting from the latest changes in the stabilisation scheme; what part of such reduction will be attributable to the reduction in National Bacon Pig Contract prices for 1971–72 in relation to the standard price for pigs; and what part of such reduction will be attributable to the reduced level of support per hundredweight of bacon.
§ Mr. PriorThe outturn cannot be precisely estimated since it depends on the market situation and on the industry's response to the new conditions. As a direct effect, at the level of home bacon production in 1971–72 provided for under the Bacon Market Sharing Understanding, adjusting the contract price would save about £2.1 million a year on the 141W cost of the Stabilisation Scheme and increase the cost of the pig guarantee by about £1 million. The new formula for assessing the bacon price, if applied to the recent production and market situation, would have represented a further annual saving of about £1.6 million. The outturn should however reflect still further savings, compared with what the cost would otherwise have been, because the changes will stimulate the industry to pay closer attention to market conditions.