§ Mr. Ron Thomasasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the approximate total annual cost to the flour-milling and baking industries of the Common Market levy on hard wheat from North America; and what influence this levy had on the recent increases in the price of bread and flour.
§ Mr. BishopThe total revenue from levies charged on hard wheat imported into the United Kingdom was £7.3 million in 1976 and about £30 million in the first nine months of 1977. On the influence of this levy on the price of bread, I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection, to my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Test (Mr. Gould) on 29th November 1977.—[Vol 940, c.153.] A similar calculation for flour would be less meaningful, because of the very wide variety of flour formulations. On average, household flour contains a low percentage of flour derived from North American wheat.