§ 55. Mr. Alportasked the President of the Board of Trade to what extent the lifting of certain restrictions upon imports from Europe will affect the import of horticultural produce; what changes there will be in the system of quotas for fruit and vegetable imports; and whether 91W he is in a position to announce the amounts of fruit pulp which it is intended to import in 1953.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftFollowing my announcement on 23rd March of relaxations of restrictions on imports from Western Europe, open general licences have been restored for imports of Clementines, mandarins, tangerines, pineapples, apricots and non-hothouse
(a) QUOTAS FOR THE PERIOD JULY/DECEMBER, 1953 Commodity Quota for July/December, 1953 Quota for July/December, 1952 Increase over quota for previous comparable period £'000 c.i.f. £'000 c.i.f. £'000 c.i.f. Apples 450 300 150 Pears 1,025 750 275 Hothouse Grapes and Hothouse Peaches 182 140 42 Fresh fruit other than apples, apricots, bananas, cherries, Clementines, currants, damsons, gooseberries, grapes, grapefruit, greengages, lemons, mandarins, nectarines, oranges, peaches, pears, pineapples, plums, rhubarb, strawberries and tangerines 185 140 45
(b) QUOTAS FOR THE PERIOD JANUARY/DECEMBER, 1953 Quota previously Announced Additional Quota now Announced £'000 c.i.f. £'000 c.i.f. Grapes other than hothouse … … … … … 645 700 Licences under these quotas will be issued during the next few weeks and will be valid as from the date of issue. No change has been made in the current global quotas for cucumbers, cherries, plums, strawberries, gooseberries, currants and rhubarb, which cover the period January-December, 1953.
The new quotas for fruit pulp which cover the period July, 1953, to June, 1954, are the same as those for the previous licensing period, namely, £500,000 for apricot, peach, pear, pineapple and grapefruit pulps and £750,000 for the other varieties. Imports of fruit pulp from the Sterling Area may be made under open general licence and small additional quantities may also be imported during this period under trading arrangements made with countries not covered by the global quota. I cannot say how much fruit pulp traders will import under the licensing arrangements during 1953.
The recent relaxations do not affect the import arrangements for those horticultural products to which the restrictions imposed in November, 1951, and March, 1952, did not apply; and in particular, the open general licences for certain fresh
92Wpeaches and nectarines, and these may now be imported from Western Europe and certain other foreign countries without separate licences. In addition, increased quotas have been announced for imports from these countries of apples, pears, grapes and certain other fruits which are grouped under our global quota heading No. 79. The details of these increases are as follows:
vegetables will continue to be subject to suspension at certain seasons.