Mr. John D. TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the state of the pig industry in Northern Ireland.
§ Mr. ViggersThe pig industry in Northern Ireland, in common with the remainder of the United Kingdom and the European Community, is going through a difficult period due to an over-supply of pigs and poor prices for pigmeat.
To help ease the situation an aids to private storage scheme was introduced throughout the Community in February 1988 to remove surplus pigmeat from the market. To date just over 200 tonnes have been put into store in Northern Ireland.
Furthermore, the level of monetary compensatory amount paid on bacon exported to the United Kingdom has, due to the increasing strength of sterling, fallen from 15.8 per cent. in October 1987 to 6.1 per cent. at the end of April 1988.