HC Deb 31 July 1981 vol 9 cc607-9W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing United Kingdom consumption of the principal agricultural products, the cost to the economy of the amount consumed in terms of farmgate or landed prices, and the cost of the same quantity purchased at the current world price.

Mr. Buchanan-Smith

The following table provides estimates of the total volume of foodstuffs for human consumption in the United Kingdom in 1980. These quantities have been valued at the average unit value of imports from third countries inclusive of the average levy in order to obtain the valuation at "landed prices". The differences in values at landed and world prices, however, do not represent costs to the economy as much of the additional value accrues to the producers of these products in the United Kingdom. As there is no single measure of

Mr. Peter Walker

European Community entry prices and third country offer prices can be found in the 1980 report published by the European Commission entitled "The Agricultural Situation in the Community", pages 196 and 197.

Mr. Austin Mitchell

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing, for each commodity for which there was a guaranteed price in 1970, (a) the corresponding European Economic Community price at that date, (b) the United Kingdom guaranteed price, (c) the current world price and (d) the current European Economic Community price.

Mr. Peter Walker

The European Community support system operates differently from the guaranteed prices system that used to apply in the United Kingdom. The third country offer prices used by the Commission to determine rates of levy applicable on 28 July 1981 are taken as current world prices. The following table sets out the information which is available:

the world price, the estimates in the table have been obtained by subtracting an estimate of the average import levy or export refund from the "landed price":

Commodity Supplies of Foodstuffs for Human Consumption 1980 Colunm (1) Valued at "landed prices"* Column (1) Valued at "world prices" †
'000 tonnes £ million £ million
(1) (2) (3)
Wheat 5,087 753 510
Maize 1,082 131 75
Other Cereals 164 22 16
Sugar 2,074 582 582
Butter 327 786 504
Cheese 336 854 633
Pork 705 679 496
Bacon and Ham 508 691 589
Beef and Veal 1,166 2,743 1,967
Mutton and Lamb 430 421 383

Commodity Supplies of Foodstuffs for Human Consumption 1980 Colunm (1) Valued at "landed prices"* Column (1) Valued at "world prices" †
'000 tonnes £ million £ million
(1) (2) (3)
Poultry 760 875 808
Eggs 745 860 793
Lard 177 64 49
* Landed prices are estimated as the average unit value of imports from outside the Community plus the estimated average United Kingdom levy.
† "World" prices are estimated as landed prices less the average United Kingdom levy or export refund as appropriate but adjusted, as necessary, to allow for the butter subsidy and beef premium which reduce prices to consumers in the United Kingdom and for the arrangements on sugar with ACP countries. In the case of poultry and eggs the average levy has been estimated on the basis of the volume of cereal feed used in their production.