HC Deb 12 November 1980 vol 992 cc266-7W
Mr. Ennals

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what agricultural products are currently in surplus within the EEC; and what are the quantities of such products held in the EEC.

Mr. Buchanan-Smith

The following table lists the agricultural products considered to be in structural surplus within the European Community, and shows stocks at recent dates of such commodities held under public intervention and aided private storage measures.

Quantities in Community Intervention Stores and aided Private Storage.
thousand tonnes
Butter 349
Skimmed Milk Powder 227
Wheat 4505
Rye 474
Tobacco 24
Wine (including Grape Must): 19 million hectoliters.

Notes

  1. 1. The European Community mainly disposes of surplus sugar by exports to the world market. Intervention is rare and no reliable figures are available.
  2. 2. In addition to the stocks of cereals given above there are 896,000 tonnes of Barley in public intervention storage within the Community, but the EC does not have a strutural surplus of feed grains taken as a whole.

Mr. Ennals

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what agricultural products are currently in surplus within the United Kingdom; what are the quantities of such products held; and at what cost to the taxpayer.

Mr. Buchanan-Smith

Of the agricultural products considered to be currently in structural surplus within the European Community, the quantities held in the United Kingdom under Community support measures at 31 October were:

Intervention stocks tonnes Private storage aid stocks tonnes
Butter 24,954 9,403
Skimmed milk Powder 2,543 Nil
Wheat 23,249 Nil
Rye 304 Nil
Wine Nil Nil

In addition to the stocks of cereals given above, there were 371,054 tonnes of barley in public intervention storage within the United Kingdom at 31 October, but the European Community does not have a structural surplus of feed grain taken as a whole.

Exchequer funds are used by the intervention board for agricultural produce to purchase commodities into intervention. The European agricultural guidance and guarantee fund contributes towards the cost of financing the outlay and the cost of handling and storing the goods. The fund also reimburses the Exchequer for any losses which arise when the goods are sold out of intervention. The net cost of intervention is shown annually in the board's appropriation accounts. Private storage is wholly financed by the fund.