§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish a table showing the total volume of (a) production, (b) home sales, (c) imports and (d) exports of Cheddar cheese over the past five years.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe information requested is as follows:
Thousand tonnes United Kingdom 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984† Production 162.1 162.7 168.4 159.8 160.9 148.8 Offtake* 239.6 224.7 226.1 226.7 217.3 204.1 Imports 95.7 72.2 91.2 80.0 80.2 73.9 Exports 10.0 10.6 16.8 25.9 20.0 22.7 Source: MMB: Customs and Excise Overseas Trade Statistics. * Data on home sales are not available and offtake (production plus imports less exports and stock changes) which represents supplies moving into consumption has been used as a proxy. † January to November.