§ Mr. Buchanasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the prevailing prices for soft wheats in the EEC and in the world markets, respectively.
§ Mr. BishopThe following EEC market price quotations were published for the week ending 30th April, converted into sterling at spot rates:
£ per long ton (May delivery) delivered prices Milling Wheat: Rouen 72.15 Creil 69.00 Arras 69.00 Hamburg 83.30 Hanover 80.10 Cologne 82.10 Wurzburg 82.40 Munich 81.20 Rotterdam 75.10 Groningen 75.70 (Source: Home Grown Cereals Authority Weekly Bulletin of 5th May 1975.)
English milling wheat was reported to be on sale, delivered in London, at £51.75 per long ton. (Source: Public Ledger 30th April 1975.)
There are no recognised world market prices for soft wheat since the majority of wheats traded on the international market are high-protetin strong varieties. Two of the most commonly traded soft varieties comparable in quality to EEC milling wheats are Australian f.a.q. and Swedish. The latest quotation I have for the former is a price of £61.23 per long ton f.o.b. Australian port (Source: International Wheat Council report of 23rd April 1975). To this would have to be added freight, insurance and handling costs to bring it to a landed European price, but the lack of public quotations suggests there is no trade to European destinations. Swedish wheat has not been publicly quoted for some time.