§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will state(a) the price at which British wholesalers buy potatoes per tonne,
EC member states production and consumption of potatoes Harvested production (in 1,000T) Human consumption (in 1,000T) Year 1990 1991 1992 19931 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 Belgium 1,952 2,002 2,616 2,093 965 929 1,004 1,029 Luxembourg 25 19 26 — Denmark 1,483 1,462 1,738 — 331 332 317 294 Germany 7,233 10,201 10,897 12,074 4,465 4,482 5,959 5,940 Greece 996 1,004 980 — 868 850 903 922 Spain 5,331 5,182 5,271 4,158 3,769 4,243 4,146 4,210 France 4,779 5,467 6,676 — 4,100 4,000 4,021 4,112 Ireland 605 571 642 — 506 504 526 535 Italy 2,309 2,219 2,498 2,026 2,233 2,203 2,235 2,230 Netherlands 7,036 6,949 7,641 7,699 1,274 1,329 1,300 1,311 Portugal 1,132 939 1,511 1,160 964 1,100 1,110 1,050 United Kingdom 6,467 6,267 7,802 7,117 5,932 5,615 5,681 5,426 EC12 39,348 42,282 48,298 — 25,407 25,587 27,202 27,059 1Provisional. Sources: Eurostat, Crop Production—Quarterly Statistics, Vol. 4 1993.
MAFF Statistics (for revised UK data)—December 1993 Potatoes Quarterly Review.
(d) there is no common agricultural policy expenditure on potatoes; and, similarly,
278W(b) what she estimates the price of potatoes per tonne would be in a free market without European Community price intervention, (c) the levels of European Community production and consumption of potatoes, (d) the level of common agricultural policy expenditure on potato subsidies and (e) the cost to the British Exchequer of European Community intervention in the potato market.
§ Mr. JackThe answer is as follows:
(a) The average price at which registered merchants1 in Great Britain sold maincrop potatoes was as follows: Crop year Average price(£/tonne)(excluding sacks) 1988–89 62.51 1989–90 98.65 1990–91 78.17 1991–92 85.73 1992–93 56.71 Source: Weighted average of PMB country details of Maincrop returns from Registered Merchants.
1 During this period all registered production was sold through Registered merchants to all markets including the retail market.
Northern Ireland recorded maincrop ware prices were as detailed:
Crop year Average price(£/tonne)(excluding sacks) 1988–89 54.43 1989–90 104.07 1990–91 66.15 1991–92 88.56 1992–93 44.52 Source: Department for Agriculture for Northern Ireland; Economics and Statistics.
(b) there is no European Community price intervention;
(c) the latest available figures for European Community production and consumption of potatoes are as follows:
(e) there is no cost to the British Exchequer of European Community intervention in the potato market.