§ Sir Bernard Braineasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many work people are employed in the United Kingdom and other European Economic Community beet processing industries; and how sugar output per man in the United Kingdom compares with that in other European Economic Community countries.
§ Sir William Clarkasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many workpeople are employed in the United Kingdom and other EEC beet processing industries; and how suger output per man in the United Kingdom compares with that in other EEC countries.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithThe annual report of British Sugar Corporation Ltd., the only United Kingdom beet processing company, for 1978–79 shows that in that year the corporation had 5,600 regular employees and in the processing season the number of employees rose to over 7,600; the average weekly number of 187W employees was 6,144 and the maximum number employed was 7,633. No estimate of the company's output per man is published.
Information about employment in beet processing industries in other European Economic Community countries was recently given in answer to a question in the European Parliament. The latest figures given there were provisional ones for 1978–79 and related to the number of people employed during the production season. They were:
Denmark 1,900 Germany 12,242 France 20,910 Ireland 2,234 Italy 18,000 Netherlands 4,500 Belgium 4,544 United Kingdom 7,582 I regret that no estimate of sugar output per man in other European Economic Community countries is available.
§ Sir Bernard Braineasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Production levies Export refunds 1976 … … … … … … 128.5 million ua 55.6 million ua (see Note (ii)) 1977 … … … … … … 207.9 million ua 362.6 million ua (see Note (ii)) 1980 … … … … … … 230.1 million EUA 835.4 million EUA (Based on EEC Commission statistics) Notes: (i) Because of a change in the unit of account used for budgetary purposes, the figures for 1980 are not directly comparable with those for 1976 and 1977. (ii) The figures for production levies for 1976 and 1977 include income from both production levies and sugar storage levies since no budgetary distinction was made between the two until 1978.
§ Sir Bernard Braineasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the increase in net exports to the free world market in both volume and percentage terms, supplied by the European Economic Community since the coming into force of the current European Economic Community sugar regulations.
Year Net Exports Percentage Change (October/September) ('000 tons white sugar equivalent) (compared to previous year) 1976–77 69 — 1977–78 1,346 +1851 percent 1978–79 976 —27 per cent 1979–80 1,214 +24 per cent Source: EEC Commission.
§ Sir Bernard Braineasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many people were employed in the United Kingdom cane refining industry in 1976; and to what extent the total has fallen since then.
188Wwhether under the proposed European Economic Community sugar regime there are any facilities available for the carrying forward of sugar from one crop to another so as to even out variations in production.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithThe Commission of the European Economic Community has proposed that under the new regime all or part of an undertaking's production above its A quota may be carried forward to the next marketing year and its storage costs refunded.
§ Sir Bernard Braineasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what the cost of the European Economic Community sugar surpluses, net of producer contributions, were to the Community taxpayer in 1976, 1977 and 1980.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithCommunity expenditure on export refunds for sugar together with income from sugar production levies in 1976, 1977 and the forecast amounts for 1980 are given below:
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithIn 1975–76, when the current European Economic Community sugar regulations came into force, the Community was a net importer of 582,000 tonnes—white sugar equivalent. The figures for net exports to third countries since that date are as follows:
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithIn 1976 approximately 6,200 people were employed in the United Kingdom cane sugar refining industry: the figure now is about 3,900.