§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what percentage of the minimum guaranteed price for sugar from ACP countries in respect of the 1.3 million tons imports agreed under the Lomé Convention, will be represented by the storage levy imposed by the European Commission.
§ Mr. BishopThe storage levy, which is used to reimburse the cost of storage of sugar in the Community in the interests of orderly marketing, is provided for in Article 8—as amended—of Regulation (EEC) No. 3330/74 of the Council. This provides that the levy will not be charged and reimbursements will not be paid on ACP sugar before 1977–78. The rates of storage levy and reimbursements for 1977–78 will be fixed next year following the negotiations with the ACP countries on the guaranteed prices for their white and raw sugar to be fixed for that year. Comparison between the guaranteed prices for the current year and the current rates of storage levy and reimbursement on sugar produced within the Community would not be meaningful.