§ Mr. Kelleyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the acreage put down to sugar beet in the United Kingdom in each year from 1968.
§ Mr. BuchanThe following figures relate to the acreage for which the British Sugar Corporation made contracts with growers, and may differ somewhat from the acreage sown and from the acreage harvested:
Year Acreage (thousand acres) 1968 443.0 1969 442.0 1970 447.1 1971 446.4 1972 442.9 1973 467.6 1974 481.2
§ Mr. Kelleyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the quantity of sugar refined from beet sources, in the United Kingdom, for each year from 1968.
§ Mr. BuchanThe following figures show the quantity of sugar produced from home-grown beet during the 12 months beginning 1st October in each year:
thousand long tons Year (white sugar equivalent) 1968 883 1969 847 1970 892 1971 1,069 1972 872 1973 948
§ Mr. Kelleyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total capacity for refining beet sugar in the United Kingdom to date; and what restrictions are placed on its output as a result of membership of the EEC.
§ Mr. BishopThere is at present capacity to process the beet from 488,000 acres which, given an average yield, would produce over 1 million tons of sugar. The present EEC arrangements place no limit on the production of beet or sugar; these arrangements, however, expire at the end34W of the 1974–75 crop year and are due to be renegotiated.