§ Mr. Colin Shepherdasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement about sales of untreated milk through dealers.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerI refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Leek (Mr. Knox) yesterday.
§ Mr. Colin Shepherdasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement about the price of liquid milk.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThe Government have decided that the maximum retail prices of liquid milk should be increased by ½p per pint on 10 August. From that date the maximum price of ordinary pasteurised milk will be 17p per pint. This has been made necessary by continuing increases in the costs of wages, production, processing and distribution.
Further consideration will be given to the level of milk prices later in the year, when the additional work being undertaken on the distributive costings system by Binder Hamlyn has been completed. In the meantime, discussions are being held with both sides of the industry about the appropriate level of the maximum wholesale price.
Orders to give effect to the new maximum retail prices are being laid before Parliament today; those giving effect to new maximum wholesale prices will be laid as soon as possible.