Butter

HC Deb 17 November 1970 vol 806 cc358-9W

34. Mr. Wellbeloved

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the present stocks of butter in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Anthony Stodart

Stocks of butter in public cold stores in the United Kingdom at 31st October, 1970, were 20,500 tons.

Sir A. Meyer

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what, from information available from international sources, is the relative proportion of the average housewife's budget spent on butter in Great Britain and in the countries of the European Economic Community.

Mr. Anthony Stodart

Precise information is not available but it is estimated that expenditure on butter as a proportion of total consumers' expenditure in 1968 was about 1½ per cent. in Belgium, about 1¼ per cent. in France and West Germany and about ½ per cent. in Italy and the Netherlands; for the United Kingdom a comparable estimate would be ¾ per cent.