§ Mr. Pardoeasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many applications his Department has received in the last six months from the manufacturers of animal feedingstuffs to increase their prices; how many of those he has agreed to; how many he has referred to the National Board for Prices and Incomes; and what is the average increase per ton for all the applications he has received.
§ Mr. PeartUnder the early warning arrangements agreed with the compound feedingstuffs industry, manufacturers producing more than 50,000 tons a year give me advance notification of any proposed price increases. In the last six months I have received 19 notifications from major manufacturers. Of these, I have accepted 4 as submitted and a further 11 after they had been modified in discussion with my officials. The remainder are under consideration. The average increase I have accepted is of the order of 10s. per ton, or about 1¼ per cent.
The industry is facing substantial increases in the cost of raw materials. The increased prices I have accepted reflect only part of the increased raw material costs; the firms concerned are absorbing the remainder and all other costs that may have occurred. In addition, some of these manufacturers made reductions in the prices of their feedingstuffs between May and September, 1966.
In these circumstances I am satisfied that these price increases were necessary 108W and were clearly justified within the terms of the White Papers (Command 3073 and 3150). There was no need to refer any case to the National Board for Prices and Incomes.