HC Deb 03 March 1988 vol 128 cc669-70W
21. Mr. Canavan

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total volume and value in pound sterling of surplus food and drink in the EEC.

Mr. Donald Thompson

A note setting out the volume of EC intervention stocks of agricultural commodities is deposited in the Library of the House and updated monthly. The estimated book value of the EC stocks set out in the most recently deposited note is £5.7 billion.

37. Mr. Leigh

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on recent developments in the control of surpluses of agricultural commodities in the European Community.

Mr. MacGregor

I refer my hon. Friend to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 15 February about the outcome of the recent meeting of the European Council at which major decisions were taken involving substantial CAP reforms.

52. Mr. Rogers

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the present annual cost of storing surplus food stocks in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Donald Thompson

The cost of storage of intervention stocks in 1986–87 was £129 million. The cost of financing intervention stocks in 1985, the latest year for which information is available, was £86 million.

58. Mr. Teddy Taylor

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what special sales of surplus stocks of food and wine have been approved by the management committee of the EEC over the past 12 months; and what was the price, in pence per pound weight, of each such sale.

Mr. Donald Thompson

At any one time CAP arrangements provide for a number of sales schemes. These tend to follow established patterns, but the following sales from EC intervention stocks to non-EC countries, agreed over the past 12 months, have distinguishing features: