HC Deb 09 March 1982 vol 19 cc386-8W
Dr. Roger Thomas

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy to press for the harmonisation of sheepmeat prices within the European Community.

Mr. Buchanan-Smith

The sheepmeat regime guarantees producers' returns to the level of reference prices which at present differ between regions of the Community. One of the conditions we negotiated on the introduction of the regime was that these reference prices would be aligned by 1984. This alignment will not of itself lead to harmonisation of market prices, which reflect the state of the market in each of the member States. In the

Production of milk, Butter and Cheese in the United Kingdom 1970–1981
Year 1970 1971 1972 * 1973 1974 1975
Production of:
(a) Milk in million litres 12,040 12,374 13,212 13,468 13,098 13,133
(b) butter in '000 tonnes 64.7 66.7 95.7 97.6 54.3 48.3
(c) cheese in '000 tonnes 134.0 162.3 184.1 182.0 217.6 234.8

Year 1976* 1977 1978 1979 1980* 1981
forecast
Production of:
(a) milk in million litres 13,618 14,406 15,094 15,116 15,183 15,067
(b) butter in '000 tonnes 90.1 134.8 164.0 161.2 169.4 168.0
(c) cheese in '000 tonnes 203.6 206.5 215.9 234.3 237.9 240.0
* 366 days.

Mr. Strang

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the level of production of all cereals in the United Kingdom in each year from 1970 to the present day.

Mr. Buchanan-Smith

The annual production of cereals in the United Kingdom since 1970 is shown in the following table.

Year Production (thousand tonnes)
1970 13,621
1971 14,963
1972 15,515
1973 15,303
1974 16,382
1975 13,936
1976 13,263
1977 16,727
1978 17,263
1979 17,416
1980 19,482
1981
(forecast) 19,431

Source: Annual Review of Agriculture.

Mr. Strang

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much sugar was produced in the United Kingdom in each year from 1970 to the present day.

Mr. Buchanan-Smith

Statistics on the production of beet sugar were given in reply to the hon. Member for Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell) on 25 February.—[Vol. 18, c. 470.]

United Kingdom the variable premium support arrangement helps consumption by allowing supply and demand to determine prices.