§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the total cereal crop for 1987 and give for each cereal and for each grade an estimate of production, consumption and amount sold into intervention.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonMy Department's present estimates of United Kingdom production of cereal in 1987 and domestic consumption of home-grown cereals in the 1987–88 marketing year are set out in the following table:
'000 tonnes1 '000 tonnes2 '000 tonnes3 Wheat 11,874 10,144 1,730 Barley 9,130 6,170 2,960 Oats 441 441 — Other cereals 59 59 — 21,504 16,814 4,690 1 Estimated production. 2 Estimated domestic consumption of home-grown cereals. 3 Tonnages surplus to domestic demand in 1987–88. A breakdown of grades of cereals is not available. The volume of sales of wheat and barley into intervention this season will depend largely on the industry's success in finding export markets for the surplus tonnages. Only 1,429 tonnes of barley had been delivered into intervention in the period to 29 February, and total offers of cereal this season are expected to be less than 1 million tonnes.