§ Mr. Moateasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether the supplementary payments to refiners of raw sugar will continue after 30th June.
§ Mr. Anthony StodartThe Community has now fixed the prices for raw and white sugar operative in the United Kingdom from 1st July, and I do not consider that there is any immediate prospect of these prices resulting in a264W refining margin that would be adequate to ensure the refining and marketing of the sugar purchased under the Commonwealth Sugar Agreement. The supplementary payments to refiners, which my right hon. Friend announced in his statement to the House on 28th March—[Vol. 853, c. 1306–16.]—will therefore be continued. The expected cost of the payments in respect of the period from 1st February 1973 to the end of the current financial year is £11 million. A Supplementary Estimate for this sum will be presented shortly, and until this is passed recourse will continue to be had to the Contingencies Fund. It is intended to seek specific statutory authority for these payments through the Finance Bill at present before the House.