§ Mr. Spearingasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will tabulate in the Official Report the sums of money allocated in the EEC budget for 1980 for all types of storage for each of the groups of commodities in table 3 of his written reply, Official Report, 9 November, c. 362.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThe information requested is set out in the table below:
EAGGF GUARANTEE SECTION 1980 BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS MEUA (£ million) Storage costs Cereals (inc. rice) 194.9 (130.8) Milk products 182.5 (122.5) Beef 437.0 (293.3) Sugar 2.4 (1.6) Wine 57.8 (38.8) Olive Oil 14.9 (10.0) Tobacco 29.5 (19.8) Other 11.3 (7.6) 930.3 (624.4) Notes to table:
- (a) The figures for appropriations are drawn from the second letter of amendment to the preliminary draft general budget of the European Communities for 1980 which has been deposited in the House.
- (b) The heading "storage costs" covers both public and private storage. No direct comparisons should be made between these figures and those for tonnages given in the related written answer of 9 November because the latter are the amounts in store at a particular date whereas the storage costs in the table relate to the financial year 1980.
- (c) 95.6 MEUA has been omitted from the "Other" category in the table because this represents intervention measures for fresh fruit and vegetables which are not regarded as storage costs.
- (d) Storage costs for pigmeat also include expenditure on measures to combat the spread of animal diseases. These are included in the "Other" category.
- (e) The cost of sugar storage refunds has not been included because this relates to an orderly marketing rather than an intervention buying and storage measure. Producers and refiners pay a levy which, taking one year with another, equals the cost of the refunds.
- (f) Conversions to sterling have been made at the rate of 1.49 EUA = £1.