§ 49. Mr. Farrasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is considering entering into barley-dumping negotiations with countries other than those so far decided upon.
§ Mr. MaudlingNot at present. But as I stated in my reply to my hon. Friend, the Member for Newbury (Sir A. Hurd), on 7th July, if sales from any source are in future made at below a landed duty paid price of £20 per ton and are dumped or subsidised, I shall not hesitate, if the supplying countries fail to give assurances similar to those given already by Russia, Australia and France, to impose the appropriate duties.
§ 50. Mr. Farrasked the President of the Board of Trade how he now estimates the imports of barley into the United Kingdom during 1961 will compare with 1960.
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§ Mr. MaudlingImports for the first five months of 1961 were 513,000 tons. This compares with a figure of 704,000 tons for the whole of 1960. I cannot make any forecast of the likely figure of imports for the remainder of 1961; this will depend, amongst other things, on the size of the new home crop and on the effect of the measures which I announced on 7th July to check imports at dumped and subsidised prices.
§ 57. Sir A. Hurdasked the President of the Board of Trade how soon he expects the measures he is taking to check the dumping of barley on the British market will be effective in restoring a reasonable price level for the home crop, so as to encourage orderly marketing through the year and save an undue subsidy burden falling on the Exchequer.
§ Mr. MaudlingI understand that the market price for barley is already hardening. In the next few weeks prices will be determined mainly by the rate of home-grown offers, but I believe that the measures which I announced in my reply to a Question by my hon. Friend on 7th July will help to establish prices at a reasonable level.