§ Mr. Hunterasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what information he has as to the cost of egg production in France and the Netherlands at a convenient date each month since December 1983;
(2) if he will list the cost of egg production according to the production cost index at a convenient date each month since December 1983.
§ Mr. MacGregorMonthly data on costs of egg production in member states is not available. But a comparison of production costs in a number of member states (including England and Wales, France and the Netherlands) was published in the report of the Agriculture Committee's inquiry into the effect of feedingstuff prices on the United Kingdom pig and poultry industries (pages 203–204 of Volume II of the Second Report 1983–84 Session). Following is an extract from the relevant table.
344W
£ per 100 eggs England and Wales (1982) 3.65 Denmark (1982–83) 3.43 France (1982) 3.17
£ per 100 eggs Germany (1982) 4.37 Netherlands (1982–83) 3.54 Ireland (1982) 4.96 For the reasons explained in the report, considerable care has to be taken in drawing any conclusions from these comparative production costs.
§ Mr. Hunterasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the price of eggs per dozen according to the egg price index on a convenient date each month since December 1983.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe price of size 4 eggs, as shown by the retail food index, since December 1983 is as follows:
Date (1984) Pence per dozen 10 January 81.6 14 February 82.4 13 March 83.7 10 April 87.6 15 May 88.5 12 June 85.4 17 July 82.1 14 August 81.3 11 September 79.5 16 October 79.6 13 November 77.9
§ Mr. Hunterasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the total number of chicks placed for egg laying in the United Kingdom each month since December 1983.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe information requested is as follows: 345W
Statistical month (4 or 5 weeks) Millions of chicks 1984 January (5 weeks) 3.51 February 2.82 March 2.55 April (5 weeks) 3.63 May 2.74 June 2.77 July (5 weeks) 2.88 August 2.12 September 2.51 October (5 weeks) 3.09
§ Mr. Hunterasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will list the total of egg imports from France each month since December 1983;
(2)if he will list the total of egg imports from the Netherlands each month since December 1983;
(3)if he will list the totals of egg imports into the United Kingdom each month since December 1983.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe information requested is set out in the following table.
Imports of eggs in shell No. of boxes (each of 360 eggs) 1984 Imports from France Imports from the Netherlands Imports from all sources January 26,094 29,486 66,383 February 21,730 37,264 74,000 March 28,458 74,772 115,383 April 49,378 38,503 91,056 May 68,700 134,789 204,472 June 37,686 74,897 113,981 July 17,725 51,850 74,961 August 44,433 77,805 123,753 September 16,392 45,869 62,778 October 3,486 56,244 61,208
§ Mr. Hunterasked the Minister Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received alleging that French and Dutch eggs are being exported to the United Kingdom at less than the cost of production, packaging and transportation.
§ Mr. MacGregorEarlier in the year I received some complaints about the prices of eggs imported from other member states. There is a free market for eggs within the European Community so that prices, at any point in time, depend on the balance between supply and demand and not on production costs. There was no evidence that imported eggs were on sale here at prices below those in the country of origin.
§ Mr. Hunterasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the powers available to him to control the importing of French and Dutch eggs into the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. MacGregorThere is a free market for eggs within the European Community. But the Importation of Animal Products and Poultry Products Order 1980 (S.I. 1980, No. 14), as amended, provides powers to control the landing of eating eggs in order to protect animal health. Further, imported eggs are subject to the Imported Food Regulations, which contain measures for the protection of public health, and to the EC Egg Marketing Standards Regulations.