§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will state(a) the price at which British wholesalers buy milk per tonne, (b) the price at which the European Community sells milk per tonne on the world market, (c) the levels of European Community production and consumption of milk, (d) the level of common agricultural policy expenditure on milk subsidies, and (e) the cost to the British Exchequer of European Community intervention in the milk market.
§ Mr. JackThe answers are as follows:(a) The average price paid for milk by wholesalers in England and Wales is £230.65 per tonne; (b) there is not a world market for liquid milk; (c) I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Glanford and Scunthorpe (Mr. Morley) on 1 February, Official Report, column 555, which shows EC production of milk and consumption of liquid milk for 1991, the latest year available; (d) the 1993 provisional outturn of common agricultural policy expenditure in the dairy sector as a whole amounts to around £4 billion; (e) the Exchequer cost of CAP support in the dairy sector in the United Kingdom is estimated at £296.5 million for the 1993–94 financial year. The United Kingdom also contributes to the EC budget as a whole, which funds the cost of support for the dairy sector in other member states.