§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at what price British wholesalers buy rice per tonne; what he estimates the price of rice per tonne would be in the free market without European Community price intervention and what is the annual cost to the British consumer of the common agricultural policy in the rice market. [16135]
§ Mr. JackInformation on the price of rice to wholesalers is not gathered centrally.
It is not possible to estimate what the price of rice per tonne would be in the free market without European Community intervention without making a large number of hypothetical assumptions.
The only readily available information on the cost to the British consumer of the common agricultural policy in the rice market is given by the consumer subsidy equivalents in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development publication "Agricultural Policies, Markets and Trade, Monitoring and Outlook 1994".