§ 54. Mr. Spearingasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give an upper and lower estimate of the likely import of cereals into the United Kingdom over the next year, stating the current import price per ton for wheat and barley with and without the import levy, respectively, and if he will estimate income from such levies over the next year.
§ Mr. Anthony StodartIt is impossible to forecast imports of cereals over the next year because they vary too much from year to year.
Nearly all imported cereals are brought forward: prices published in October for November shipment have been £25.25—£32.35 for milling wheat and £19.90—£22.00 for feed barley: levies for these two commodities have been in the range of £5.25—£5.50 and £5.00—£5.25 respectively.
Since receipts from levies depend on world prices and on the volume of imports, which can each vary greatly over a 12-month period, it is not practicable to estimate what these will be.