§ Mr. Marlowasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what at today's prices are the esimated costs over a full year to every man, woman and child in the United Kingdom of buying food at Community prices, and at world market prices, given current patterns of consumption.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThe following estimate assumes that the EEC levy on imports from third countries net of monetary compensatory amounts, and with adjustments for certain commodities, broadly measures the difference between world market prices and prices in the United Kingdom. On that basis, and assuming also that it would have been possible to buy all our food imports at world prices, we estimate that the expenditure per head on food in 1979, given current patterns of consumption, would have been about £380 at world market prices compared with an estimated expenditure of £415 per head at Community prices.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the net reduction of £260 million in EEC 667W budgetary expenditure referred to in his answer to the hon. Member for Newham, North-East (Mr. Leighton) on 27 July would have resulted in an increase in the farm gate price of food in the United Kingdom; and, if so, what is his estimate of the corresponding increase in the cost of food at retail.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerI estimated earlier that if the green pound rate which applied on 27 July 1979 had applied through the whole of 1978 the net reduction in budgetary expenditure in respect of monetary compensatory amounts on the United Kingdom's agricultural trade would have been about £260 million. The green pound was devalued by my predecessor by 7½ per cent. in the spring of 1978 and by 5 per cent. on 9 April 1979, and I devalued it by 5 per cent. on 2 July 1979. We calculate that these devaluations produced a green rate 13.8 per cent. below the average green rate applying in 1978. If this new green rate had applied in 1978 it would have raised agricultural support prices by 16 per cent. above their average 1978 levels. Bearing in mind that consumers' expenditure on food in 1978 was lower than now, we estimate that this could have raised the retail price of food by the end of 1978 by up to 3¾ per cent.