§ Sir C. Osborneasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give in column form the percentage of the food consumed in Great Britain that was imported for each of the last 10 years, and also the total cost for each year.
§ Mr. HoyI regret that a precise percentage for each year cannot be given, because of the difficulties of valuing the contribution to home produced food of imported feedingstuffs, store animals and other materials; but during each of the past 10 years approximately one-half of our food supplies has been imported. The answer to the second part of the Question is as follows:
VALUE OF IMPORTS INTO THE U.K. OF FOOD, FEEDINGSTUFFS AND LIVE ANIMALS Year At Current Prices (c.i.f.) At Constant Prices (c.i.f.) (1961) £ million £ million 1957 … … 1,358 1,262 1958 … … 1,369 1,336 1959 … … 1,398 1,322 1960 … … 1,395 1,340 1961 … … 1,337 1,337 1962 … … 1,443 1,409 1963 … … 1,525 1,364 1964 … … 1,622 1,395 1965 … … 1,571 1,372 1966 … … 1,576 1,362