§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what sales of foodstuffs and wine to the Soviet Union or to the Comecon countries, respectively, the EEC Commission has authorised at specially negotiated prices apart from the normal subsidised sales for which current export rebates are available; and if he will specify the quantity of food or wine involved in any such specially negotiated contracts and the sale price, after subsidy and rebate, of the food and wine in question.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe only such sales were to Poland between December 1980 and December 1981. Full details of this exceptional operation are set out in the Official Journal of the European Communities for 17 October 1983, C278 pages 17–25.
§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food why, when it is necessary for traders to give evidence of the volume of produce and destination before export rebates are paid, it is not possible for the EEC to specify the total amount of rebate paid in respect of exports of food and wine to the Soviet Union and the Comecon countries.
§ Mr. MacGregorInformation on destination is not necessary for the payment of export refunds for all products. Even for products where traders have to declare the destination of the goods the Commission of the European Communities does not require member states to332W account for Community expenditure on export refunds in a way which enables information on expenditure by country of destination to be readily available.
§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will publish a table showing the amount, in pound sterling, payable in export rebates and monetary compensatory amounts for the export of wheat, barley, malt, milk powder, butter, poultryrneat, sugar, and boneless frozen beef, respectively, on a date near the beginning of April 1983; and what are the current levels of rebate and monetary compensatory amounts;
(2) if there were any significant variations in the amounts, in pound sterling, payable in export rebates and monetary compensatory amounts for the export of wheat, barley, malt, milk powder, butter, poultrymeat, sugar, and boneless beef during the period from 1 January to 30 June 1983; and if he will give an indication of the extent in percentage terms of these variations in respect of each commodity.
§ Mr. MacGregorI shall reply to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he can yet give the details of the total volume of food and wine exported to the Soviet Union and the Comecon countries, respectively, during the calendar year 1983, based on data from the EEC.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe information requested is set out below for the period January to September 1983, the latest period for which data are readily available.
EC exports of the main agricultura commodities to the Soviet Union and Comecon countries: January-September 1983 Soviet Union thousand tonnes Comecon thousand tonnes Wheat 2,554 4,229 Barley 610 763 Wheat flour 178 237 Rice * 8 Malt 224 227 Wholemilk powder 1 5 Skimmed milk powder — 5 Condensed milk * 1 Butter and butteroil 16 44 Beef and veal 98 134 Pigmeat 5 14 Poultrymeat 46 60 Sugar (refined) 608 625 Wine 51 62 * Less than 500 tonnes. Source: Eurostat.