§ Lord O'HAGANasked Her Majesty's Government:
How far world food stocks can be relied on as an alternative to supplies from the EEC.
§ Lord STRABOLGIWorld food supplies depend upon developments in production and consumption in all countries and world food stocks (for those commodities which are storable) reflect those developments. The extent of our reliance on food supplies from other EEC countries depends upon a number of factors. Some of these factors are permanent in nature (for example, some crops can only be grown in certain parts of the world) and some change as the world pattern of supply and demand changes. Our imports of the basic temperate foodstuffs come from EEC and non-EEC sources; for some (such as cereals and sugar) imports from non-EEC sources predominate while for others (such as butter and cheese) EEC countries are, and have long been, among our major suppliers.