§ Mr. Martenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the current intervention price in £ sterling per 322W tonne of skimmed milk; at what price it is sold back to farmers in order to reduce the mountain; what is the present size of the mountain, showing which countries have contributed the amount; and what is the cost of storage averaged over a year.
§ Mr. BishopThe present intervention price of skimmed milk powder is £543.83 per tonne. Skimmed milk powder may be purchased from intervention agencies at £555.39 per tonne for any use. It may also be purchased, for use in pig and poultry feed, at a price set by monthly tender and at a fixed price 10 units of account per tonne higher. The prices set at the last such adjudication were £73.69 per tonne and £79.47 per tonne respectively.
The table below shows the quantities of skimmed milk powder held in public intervention stocks in the Community at 1st February 1978:
Tonnes Belgium 70,226 Denmark 24,457 Germany 580,151 France 45,910 Ireland 23,388 Italy 3,263 Luxembourg 12,301 Netherlands 62,614 United Kingdom 74,158 Total 896,468 (Source: EEC Commission)
Member States are reimbursed by the Commission for the cost of holding intervention stocks at standard rates. It is estimated that the amount the Community would pay for holding the present stocks for a year would be of the order of 13.5 million units of account or some £8.5 million converted at the Community budget rate of 1.53 eua = £1 sterling.