Mr. Tom Ellisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, if he will publish in the Official Report figures of the food price index at recent convenient periods under headings of (a) 666W those foodstuffs subject to the common agricultural policy and (b) those not subject to the common agricultural policy, as recently made available by the European Commission.
§ Mr. BishopThe Index of Retail Food Prices does not distinguish between foodstuffs according to whether or not they are affected by CAP support arrangements. Many items of food sold retail contain a combination of ingredients and the contribution to the index of those which are or are not subject to CAP arrangements cannot be separately calculated.
Mr. Tom Ellisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what percentage increase he expects between January 1977 and January 1978 in the retail prices of the following foodstuffs as a result of the recent EEC farm price decisions: (a) bread, (b) milk, (c) butter, (d) sugar, (e) beef, (f) pork, (g) bacon, (h) tea, (i) coffee, (j) an average for vegetables, (k) an average for fruit and (l) potatoes.
§ Mr. BishopThe 1977 EEC farm price decisions will have no effect on the retail prices of milk, coffee, tea and potatoes, and I expect their effect on the average retail prices of vegetables and fruit to be insignificant. For the other commodities I do not have information in the form requested but have estimated that the changes resulting from common price increases and the devaluation of the green pound would be equivalent at retail level to increases of 2 per cent. for bread and beef, 6 per cent. for sugar and about 1 per cent. for pork and bacon over the levels of January 1977. The effect of the decisions on the retail price of butter will be more than offset by the new subsidy.
Mr. Tom Ellisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the retail price in January 1973 and in January 1977 of the following foodstuffs: (a) bread, (b) milk, (c) butter, (d) sugar, (e) beef, (f) pork, (g) bacon, (h) tea, (i) coffee, (j) an average figure for vegetables, (k) an average figure for fruit and (l) potatoes; to which of these the common agricultural policy does not apply; what was the percentage increase in their prices between those dates; and what part of the increase was attributable to the application of the common agricultural policy 667W and what part to other factors, broken down into convenient headings.
§ Mr. BishopInformation about retail prices and percentage increases is set out below for representative foodstuffs. No meaningful average price in pence per pound can be quoted for vegetables and fruit because they vary widely in type and quality, but the retail price of vegetables as a whole is estimated to have increased by 253 per cent. and of
Average retail prices in pence per lb. (except where otherwise stated) at January 1973 1977 Percentage increase Bread, white 1¾lbs. wrapped and sliced loaf … … 10.4 19.9 91 Milk, ordinary, per pint … … 5.5 10.5 91 Butter, New Zealand … … 22.7 53.8 137 Sugar, granulated, per kilo … … 9.6 25.4 165 Beef, sirloin without bone, home killed … … 75.3 135.7 80 Pork, leg, home killed … … 40.4 70.7 75 Bacon, back, smoked … … 47.1 91.6 95 Tea, medium, per ¼lb … … 8.4 17.2 105 Coffee extract, 4 oz. … … 29.8 72.2 142 Potatoes, white, loose … … 2.2 12.3 459