§ Mr. Spearingasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the weighted average reduction in the price of the main staple foodstuffs grown in the EEC if common prices were based on the European currency unit (ECU); what would be the likely saving to the EEC budget for either 1978 or 1979; and if he can make an estimate of the effect of such price reductions on production.
§ Mr. BishopNo such estimates can be made. This is because the prices of the main commodities in the different
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EEC United Kingdom Common levy* M.C.A. Net import levy Item and CCT No. £/mt P/lb £/mt P/lb £/mt P/lb Common wheat (10.01A) 67.905 3.08 21.889 0.99 46.016 2.09 Barley (10.03) 71.923 3.27 19.429 0.88 52.494 2.39 Maize (10.05B) 61.378 2.79 19.429 0.88 41.949 1 .91 White sugar (17.01A) 211.290 9.59 56.690 2.57 154.600 7.02 Butter 82–84 per cent, fat content (04.03A)† 1,553.824 70.54 376.730 17.10 1,177.094 53.44 Cheddar cheese (04.04EIb1bb) 1,232.245 55.94 296.970 13.48 935.275 42.46 Skimmed milk powder (04.02AIIb1) 706.601 32.08 153.080 6.95 553.521 25.13 Boneless frozen meat (02.01 AIIb4bb33) 1,267.158 57.53 344.470 15.64 922.688 41.89 Lard (15.01AII) 105.129 4.77 48.910 2.22 56.219 2.55 Pigmeat carcasses (02.01AIIIa1)‡ 328.408 14.91 152.840 6.94 175.568 7.97 Salted bacon sides (02.06BIa2aa) 443.383 20.13 206.330 9.37 237.053 10.76 Eggs (04.05AIb)§ 409.954 18.61 49.610 2.25 360.344 16.36 Poultrymeat 70 per cent, chickens (02.02AIb)║ 195.250 8.86 42.530 1.93 152.720 6.93 * Conversion from units of account into sterling has been made using the representative rate of £1 = 1.57678 ua and multiplying the resulting figures by the current monetary coefficient of 1.252. † There is a special rate for New Zealand butter. ‡ Does not include a supplementary levy which at present applies only to imports from the German Democratic Republic. § Includes a supplementary levy applicable to imports from certain countries of origin. Regulations provide for supplementary levies to operate in this sector when average free-at-frontier offer prices fall below the sluice gate price. ║ Does not include a supplementary levy which at present applies only to imports from Spain. member States depend on the green rates at which support prices fixed under the CAP are converted from units of account into the various national currencies; and the green rates would not be automatically affected by a change in the value attributed to the unit of account for the purpose of determining the so-called common prices. It is true that, over time, such a change could be expected to have an indirect effect, since the convention is that a green rate may be altered only to move a national price level in the direction of the common price level, never away from it: but this indirect effect cannot be forecast.
At its meeting last week the Council of Ministers adopted the ECU for the purpose of calculating common prices, with adjustments designed to ensure that the relationship of the common price level to the different national price levels would not be altered at the moment of changeover.