HC Deb 16 July 1990 vol 176 c402W
26. Mr. Livsey

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the current state of the beef industry in Wales.

Mr. David Hunt

The December 1989 sample census figures showed that the Welsh beef breeding herd had increased by 6 per cent. compared with December 1988. Specialist beef producers have also benefited from last year's 42 per cent. increase in the rate of suckler cow premium which was worth some £8 million to producers in Wales in the 1989–90 scheme year; and hill livestock compensatory allowance payments on cattle in 1989 amounted to more than £8 million.

Following the devaluation of the green pound agreed at the 1990 price fixing, support prices have increased by 8.5 per cent. with the rate of beef special premium increasing from £29.19 to £31.80 a head from 14 May 1990.

Although the market is currently depressed, with numbers and prices down, the safety net measures for intervention together with the lifting of bans on our exports should help to sustain the market.