§ Sir William Clarkasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether 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 469W 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 William Clarkasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what the costs of the European Economic Community sugar surpluses, net of producer
Production levies Export refunds 1966 … … … … … … 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 William Clarkasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the increase in net exports to the free world market, in both volume and percentage terms, supplied by the EEC since the coming into force of the current EEC sugar regulations.
§ 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:
Year(October/September) Net exports ('000 tons white sugar equivalent) Percentage change (compared to previous year) 1976–77 69 — 1977–78 1,346 +1,851 1978–79 976 -27 1979–80 1,214 +24 Source: EEC Commission.
§ Sir William Clarkasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what figures are set by the European Economic Community for processing margins of beet sugar and for the refining margin of cane sugar.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithThe EEC does not set margins for beet processing or cane sugar refining as part of the common price regime.
§ Sir William Clarkasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many people were employed in the 470W 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:
United Kingdom cane refining industry in 1976; and to what extent the total has fallen since then.
§ 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.