HC Deb 03 November 1965 vol 718 cc163-4W
Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give, for each of the years 1954 to 1964 inclusive, by value and by quantity, United Kingdom-produced, and imported, respectively, wheat, hard, wheat, soft, rye, barley, oats, maize, butter, cheese, other milk products, beef, mutton and lamb, bacon and ham, other pigmeat, eggs, shell, eggs, other than shell, potatoes, and wool.

Mr. John Mackie

I am sending to the hon. Member figures showing the quantity of United Kingdom production and the value and quantity of imports from 1954 to 1964 for the commodities requested, and am making copies available in the Library of the House. I regret that figures of the value of home production are not available in a comparable form because, for example, considerable quantities of cereals and potatoes are retained on farms and these cannot accurately be valued. Similarly, the value of livestock output relates to live animals or whole milk, and not to meat and milk products. Moreover, wholesale prices for home-produced meat are available for only about 15 to 20 per cent. of total production. However, figures showing the value of United Kingdom output of crops and livestock for the years 1953–54 to 1962–63 have been published in Table 209 of the 1964 Annual Abstract of Statistics and for 1963–64 and 1964–65 in Appendix II of the last Annual Review White Paper (Cmnd. 2621).