§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the increase in the retail prices of basic foodstuffs like butter, cheese, beef and sugar that will occur if the latest proposals for European Economic Community price reviews are agreed by the European Economic Community Council of Ministers.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerI refer my hon. Friend to the statement I made yesterday. This indicated that the overall effect of the settlement will be to increase the retail price index by ¼ per cent. and the food price index by 1¼ per cent.
§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish a table showing which foodstuffs covered by the common agricultural policy have experienced world prices exceeding European
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United Kingdom Imports 1977—January 1982 1977 1978 1979 1980 January-June, September-December 1981 1982 January MAIZE GLUTEN FEED (not exceeding 40 per cent, protein) Weight (thousand tonnes) 1 5 32 70 394 58 Value (£ million cif) 0 0 3 7 39 6 MANIOC, ARROWROOT, SALEP AND SIMILAR ROOTS AND TUBERS WITH HIGH STARCH CONTENT Weight (thousand tonnes) 6 41 29 28 341 82 Value (£ million cif) 2 4 5 5 31 7 OTHER CEREAL SUBSTITUTES" Brans and sharps of wheat, maize or rice: Weight (thousand tonnes) 205 268 266 324 285 17 Value (£ million cif) 14 13 16 20 18 1 Brewers' and distillers' grains: Weight (thousand tonnes) 44 17 16 24 48 5 Value (£ million cif) 2 1 1 2 4 1 Molasses Weight (thousand tonnes) 579 542 715 606 428 43 Value (£ million cif) 20 19 37 38 30 3 Sugar beet pulp Economic Community prices since 1973, giving the periods of time during which the world prices have been above European Economic Community levels.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithAny comparison of world and common agricultural policy prices can be undertaken only in broad terms, as quality and other considerations will influence the level of prices. The level of support prices under the common agricultural policy has generally been set rather higher than those on residual world markets although for cereals for periods in 1973 and 1974 and for sugar in 1974, 1975 and again in 1980 and 1981, no levies were payable on imports from third countries; this implies that world prices were higher than those in the European Community.