§ Mr. Marlowasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what arrangements the Government are making to ensure that future agricultural surpluses in Europe are paid for in the country of origin.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThe cost of dealing with agricultural surpluses, which arise mainly in other member States, is a major cause of our excessive net contribution to the EEC budget. The Government are determined that the net contribution should be reduced, but I cannot say at this stage whether a different system of paying for the surpluses will be one of the ways by which this is achieved.
§ Mr. Spearingasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish in theOfficial Report a table showing the amounts of surplus principal agricultural products from various countries of the EEC similar to that published on 9th November 1978.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThe current level of stocks held by each member State, based on recent information, is shown in the table. In some cases the figures include commodities originating in one member State but held in intervention stores by another. It is not possible to show these separately.
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AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS HELD IN INTERVENTION AND PRIVATE STORAGE SCHEMES (FEOGA AIDED) Product Belgium Denmark France Germany Italy Ireland Luxembourg Netherlands United Kingdom Butter (tonnes) … 27,233 8,841 95,133 223,832 400 11,277 2,454 60,900 65,521 Skimmed Milk Powder (tonnes) … 24,618 14,405 6,255 345,101 10,469 24,224 5,388 400 13,822 Cheese (tonnes) … — — 11,556 — 37,173 — — — — Beef and Veal (tonnes) … 180 20,140 22,521 56,556 26,968 57,468 — 5,065 12,274 Table Wine ('000 hl) … — — 4,728 29 6,792 — — — — Grape Must ('000 hl) … — — 74 — 487 — — — — Concentrated Grape Must ('000 hl) … — — 29 — 29 — — — — Breadmaking Wheat (tonnes) … 999 30,699 — 820,236 171,079 — 4,561 — — Barley (tonnes) … — — — 58,911 — — — — — Rye (tonnes) … — 1,232 620 446,165 — — 5,497 — — Durum (tonnes) … — — — — 154,576 — — — — Olive Oil (tonnes) … — — — — 83,171 — — — — Pigmeat (tonnes) … 13,916 3,839 11,858 16,267 37,378 474 40 5,635 2,090
§ 2 Mr. Spearingasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish tables in theOfficial Report setting out the projections of agricultural surpluses and support costs in the same
Table 1 QUANTIES IN COMMUNITY INTERVENTION STORES AND AIDED PRIVATE STORAGE Commodity Public Storage Aided Private Storage Date Cereals (including Rice) 1.7 mill tones nil 30.6.79 Milk Products (a) Butter 348,422 tonnes 147, 169 tonnes 5.7.79 (b) SMP 444,682 tonnes nil (c) Other nil 48,729 tonnes Beef* 179,267 tonnes 21,905 tonnes see note † Pigmeat nil 91,497 tonnes 3.7.79 Sugar ‡ nil nil — Wine nil 11,549,000 hectolitres 31.5.79 Olive Oil 83,171 tonnes nil 15.6.79 Tobacco 29,807 tonnes nil January 1979 Other not available — Notes to Table
*Public Storage includes 10,000 tonnes in Italy allocated for direct sale to the retail trade.
†Public intervention stocks are as at 30.6.79 except for Germany, Italy (15.6.79) and Ireland (19.5.79).Private storage stocks contracted for as reported on 24.7.79.
‡Sugar eligible for storage refunds has not been included because refunds relate to an orderly marketing, rather than to an intervention buying and storage, measure.
Table 2 ESTIMATED DISPOSALS (a) ON WORLD MARKETS ON WHICH EAGGF GUARANTEE SECTION 1980 BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS WERE BASED Cereals (Including Rice) … … …16.5 million tonnes (b) Milk Products (i) Butter … … …321 thousand tonnes (b) (ii) SMP … … …434 thousand tonnes (b) Beef … … …160 thousand tonnes Sugar … … …2.8 million tonnes Notes to Table
(a) Disposals at prices below full EEC levels including disposals in the form of food aid.
(b) No direct comparisons should be made between these figures and those for export refunds in Table 3 below since the coverage in not identical.
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Table 3 EAGGF GUARANTEE SECTION 1980 BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS MEUA (£m) Export Refunds Subsidised Sales Other (In[...] Agricultural Production Aids But Not Intervention Purchase and Storage) Total Cereals (Including Rice) … 1652.9 145.9 148.0 1946.8 (1109.3) (97.9) (99.4) (1306.6) Milk Products … 1892.0 2716.7 150.1 4758.8 (1269.8) (1823.3) (100.7) (3193.8) Beef … 152.4 — 76.4 228.8 (102.3) — (51.3) (153.6) Sugar … 818.8 7.4 261.8 1088.0 (549.5) (5.0) (175.7) (730.2) Wine … 5.7 — 107.5 113.2 (3.8) — (72.2) (76.0) Olive Oil … 2.2 108.3 322.3 432.8 (1.5) (72.7) (216.3) (290.5) Tobacco … 4.7 — 245.8 250.5 (3.1) — (165.0) (168.1) Other … 462.1 315.1 356.0 1133.2 (310.1) (211.5) (238.9) (760.5) Total 4990.8 3293.4 1667.9 9952.1 (3349.4) (2210.4) (1191.5) (6679.3) manner as the answer given in theOfficial Report, 25 January, c.233–6.
§ 3 Mr. Peter WalkerThe information requested is set out in the following three tables:
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MONETARY COMPENSATORY AMOUNTS RELATING TO THE FARM BUDGET Intra Community Trade … … … … … … … … … 307.4 … … … … … … … … … (206.3) Extra Community Trade … … … … … … … … … 100.7 … … … … … … … … … (67.6) Grand Total 10360.2 (6953.2) Notes to Table
(a) The figures for appropriations are drawn from the letter of Amendment to the draft general budget of the European Communities for 1980 (presented in June 1979) which is shortly to be deposited in the House.
(b) Export refunds include the cost of refunds on food aid although these now appear in the Food Aid section of the Budget.
(c)The heading "Subsidised Sales" includes all forms of aid to sale or processing.
(d) It is not possible to identify separately the appropriations relating to butter within the totals for milk products generally for the 1980 Budget.
(e) The sugar regime provides for levies a well as payments; the levies appear as revenue in Chapter 11 of the EEC Budget. The appropriation include an amount for export refunds equivalent to ACP imports which in the draft budget as prepared by the Commission is entered in the section dealing with "Cooperation in the field of commodities ".
(f) The "Other" total in the commodity column includes pigmeat appropriations of 69.0 mEUA (£46.3m) relating to export refunds.
(g) Conversions to Sterling have been made at the rate of 1.49 EUA—£1.