§ Lord Moranasked Her Majesty's Government:
What action is being taken to remedy the disturbance of the salmon market and to protect the farmed salmon industry from unfair competition.
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Trumpington)The EC Commission adopted on Friday 8th November a40WA regulation which introduces a scale of minimum import prices for imports into the European Community of fresh, chilled or frozen Atlantic salmon. The regulation came into force on 9th November, and will run until 29th February 1992.
I very much welcome this positive response by the Commission to the strenuous representations we have been making to secure a floor in the market, as protection against the threat of price collapse caused by unfair competition from Norwegian imports. Our producers have been left to struggle for too long, while huge stocks of frozen salmon have built up in Norway and consignments have been offered for sale at prices which have undermined the market. This has posed a severe threat to United Kingdom salmon farmers and to the economy of the rural areas where they operate.
I hope the measures that have now been introduced will restore stability to the market during the important pre-Christmas period.