§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he has taken to increase the storage capacity for beef in view of the recent trends in beef slaughter.
84Win each of the years since 1964 to the latest available date, in each of the nine EEC countries and Australia, Canada and the United States of America.
§ Mr. StrangThe available information is given in the following table. Precise comparisons between countries cannot be made because of differences of definition. For most countries it is not possible to distinguish expenditure on meals eaten out from total expenditure on food. For West Germany and Luxembourg it is not possible to distinguish consumers' expenditure on food alone.
§ Mr. BishopI do not consider action to be necesssary. The availability of storage capacity for the country as a whole is not a significant factor in the present situation.
§ Mr. Joplingasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how he 85W will ensure, in view of the present bottleneck at slaughterhouses, that his proposed private storage plan for beef will result in any increased price to the beef producer rather than any other party.
§ Mr. BishopUnder the EEC scheme it will be for meat trades to arrange for the slaughter of their cattle, and I have no doubt they will do so. It is too early to judge what will be the effects on market prices; the scheme has only been in operation a week.
§ Mr. Joplingasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give details of how the proposed private storage plan for intervention in the beef market is intended to operate; what effect he envisages this plan will have on present returns to beef producers; and what percentage of beef being put on the market will be handled under this scheme.
§ Mr. BishopDetails of the EEC scheme were announced by my Department and the Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce on 1st November. The effect on market prices will depend on how much the meat trades decide to contract for.
§ Mr. Joplingasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the average reduction, per ton, in the value of beef taken into intervention under the private storage scheme which he has recently announced.
§ Mr. BishopThe EEC scheme only came into operation on 4th November. The loss in value in freezing and storage will depend on the purchase price of the beef and its selling price from cold store.