§ Mr. A. Lewisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much carcase meat was recently imported into Great Britain from the United States of America; what was the cost; in what currency it was paid for; and on how many occasions during the past 10 years meat has been imported from the United States of America.
§ Mr. SoamesOfficial figures for imports are available only till the end of April, but I understand that the quantity imported for exhibition purposes 13W last week was under 5 tons of chilled beef. I have no information about the costs or payment arrangements involved.
Annual imports of carcase meat from the U.S.A. have varied over the last ten years between 20 and 4,200 tons, and total 8,479 tons, all of it frozen. It is not possible to say how many separate importations these figures represent.