§ Mr. Ralph HowellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what the tonnage and average price of grain exported from the United Kingdom was(a) generally and (b) separately for each country to which grain was exported in 1989 and 1990.
§ Mr. CurryThe table shows the tonnage and value in 1989 and 1990 of United Kingdom exports of cereals. The list of individual countries shown is restricted to those for
United Kingdom exports of cereals1 Country 1989 1990 Tonnage (000 tonnes) Value (£000) Tonnage (000 tonnes) Value (£000) EC countries 1,768 208,404 2,804 334,364 of which: Belgium-Luxembourg 450 52,821 720 85,346 Federal Republic of Germany 489 56,670 72 9,245 Greece 27 3,336 112 13,761 Irish Republic 127 16,390 145 18,751 Italy 303 35,542 724 83,814 Netherlands 332 38,642 605 71,824 Spain 2 7 419 50,206 Non-EC countries 4,794 370,691 3,700 282,151 of which: Bangladesh 164 14,502 — — Bulgaria 164 11,206 — — China 258 27,090 713 59,425 Cuba 321 25,598 184 10,653 Egypt 52 5,767 175 11,308 German Democratic Republic 363 26,679 36 2,597 Iran 608 49,463 135 10,321 Iraq 130 11,163 — — Norway 157 11,939 47 3,739 Saudi Arabia 452 31,719 139 9,956 Soviet Union 1,682 120,098 1,687 132,952 TOTAL 6,562 579,095 6,504 616,515 1 Excluding rice. 2 Less than half the units shown. Source: Her Majesty's Customs and Excise.
§ Mr. Ralph HowellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many days' supply of grain are currently in store in the United Kingdom(a) in intervention storage and (b) in all storage; and what the figures were for each of the past three years.
§ Mr. CurryUnited Kingdom intervention stocks of cereals in mid-February 1991 represented around 12 days' supply compared with 11 days, 20 days and 25 days at the middle of February 1990, 1989 and 1988 respectively.
The latest available information on the quantity of grain in commercial storage is in the form of estimates of stocks of wheat, barley and oats at 31 December 1990. Adding these estimates to the intervention stocks at the time gives total storage figures representing about 238, 256, 286 and 286 days' supply for December 1990, 1989, 1988 and 1987 respectively.
§ Mr. Ralph HowellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the latest estimate of the stocks of grain which will be in store at the end of June(a) in Britain, (b) in the EC and (c) in the world, expressed in tonnes and days' supply; and what is the latest estimate of the stocks of grain at the present time in (i) Britain, (ii) the EC and (iii) the world expressed in tonnes and days' supply.
394Wwhich the amount exported was in excess of 100,000 tonnes in either year. Total value has been provided instead of price because of the difficulty of providing meaningful comparative figures for the latter.
§ Mr. CurryCurrent estimates of cereals likely to be in store in the United Kingdom and the European Community as a whole at the end of the 1990–91 marketing year on 30 June 1991 are as follows:
Million tonnes Days' supply United Kingdom 3 55 European Community 31 79 These figures are based on the Commission of the European Communities balance sheet for cereals.
The International Wheat Council's estimate of world stocks of grain is an aggregate of national figures based on different definitions of marketing years and therefore does not relate to a particular date. However, the council's latest estimate for world stocks for the end of the 1990–91 crop year is 242 million tonnes or around 62 days' supply.
The latest estimate of current stocks of grain in the United Kingdom is for 31 December 1990 when the total was 13 million tonnes, representing about 238 days' supply. Estimates for the European Community and the world are not available.
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§ Mr. Ralph HowellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was(a) the total amount paid by each member state of the EEC in cereals co-responsibility levy for each year since the co-responsibility levy has been operative, expressed in both the member state's national currency and in pounds sterling and (b) the total tonnage of cereals produced in each member state of the EEC, showing in each case how much per tonne the co-responsibility levy represents.
§ Mr. CurryThe latest information provided by the Commission of the European Communities on cereals co-responsibility levy receipts in each member state was given to my hon. Friend on 18 December 1990,Official
1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 Production MT Receipts divided by production ECU/T Production MT Receipts divided by production ECU/T Production MT Receipts divided by production ECU/T Production MT Receipts divided by production ECU/T Belgium 2.1 2.48 2.3 8.24 1.9 7.27 2.2 5.86 Denmark 8.0 0.23 8.0 1.51 7.3 1.32 8.1 4.37 Germany 25.9 0.65 25.5 2.55 23.8 5.58 27.1 2.48 Greece 4.3 0.20 5.3 0.28 5.1 1.19 4.6 1.35 France 56.1 0.18 50.1 2.07 52.2 5.84 55.9 5.57 Ireland 1.8 0.43 1.8 2.30 2.0 4.70 2.0 3.34 Italy 17.1 0.59 17.8 2.10 17.4 1.93 16.6 3.39 Luxembourg 0.1 0.69 0.1 4.19 0.1 2.80 0.1 3.00 Netherlands 1.1 0.70 1.3 17.01 1.1 18.37 1.2 5.62 Spain 20.3 — 16.0 2.42 19.8 1.72 23.1 3.03 United Kingdom 22.5 0.43 24.5 2.56 21.7 3.31 21.1 5.50
§ Mr. Ralph HowellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the current state of the cereal sector.
§ Mr. CurryThe 1990 United Kingdom cereals harvest is estimated to have been 22.4 million tonnes. Yields were higher than in 1989 and the quality of both wheat and barley crops were good, with a marked increase in supplies of malting barley. Ex-farm prices for breadmaking wheat have been 5 to 11 per cent. higher than last year for most of the season, feed wheat prices 4 to 7 per cent. higher and feed barley prices 2 to 6 per cent. higher; premium malting barley prices have generally been 7 to 12 per cent. lower than last season. By the end of February some 146,000 tonnes of grain had been offered into intervention. Provisional figures show exports of 4.2 million tonnes by mid-February. The net farm income for cereal farms in the United Kingdom is forcast to have risen in real terms over the last two years.
§ Mr. Ralph HowellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what the total tonnage and average price of imported grain from each country which exported grain to the United Kingdom was in 1990;
(2) what the total tonnage and average price per tonne of all cereals imported into the United Kingdom was in 1989 and 1990.
§ Mr. CurryIn 1989, the United Kingdom imported 5,102,000 tonnes of cereals valued at £361,486,000. Information for 1990 is shown in the table in total and by country. The list of individual countries is restricted to those for which the amount imported was in excess of 50,000 tonnes in 1990. Total value has been provided instead of price because of the difficulty of providing meaningful comparative figures for the latter.
396WReport column 133. The sums collected are expressed in budgetary ecus. It is not possible accurately to convert them into national currencies and sterling because no information is available on the timing of levy payments over the course of each year.
Commission figures for annual cereals production in each member state where co-responsibility levy was collected are set out below, as is the levy collected divided by national production. It should be noted, however, that there is not an exact correspondence between the year in which grain is harvested and the following year's levy receipts. Nor is levy necessarily collected in the country of origin of the grain.
United Kingdom imports of cereals1 Country Tonnage (thousand tonnes) Value (£ thousands) EC countries of which: 2,213 314,645 Belgium-Luxembourg 79 10,424 Denmark 76 12,046 Greece 92 14,278 France 1,530 215,888 Irish Republic 255 32,683 Spain 127 20,686 Non-EC countries of which: 610 60,297 Argentina 119 9,553 Canada 320 33,754 South Africa 101 8,011 Unites States of America 66 7,997 Total 2,823 374,942 1 Excluding rice. Source: Her Majesty's Customs and Excise.
§ Mr. Ralph HowellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the level of imports into the United Kingdom of(a) cereals and (b) cereal substitutes in each year since 1979.
§ Mr. CurryThe information requested is as follows:
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Volume of United Kingdom imports of cereals and cereal substitutes ('000 tonnes) Cereals1 Cereal substitutes2 1979 6,187 432 1980 5,339 519 1981 4,191 1,382 1982 3,747 2,129 1983 3,245 1,440 1984 2,769 1,049 1985 3,308 1,037 1986 3,517 1,036
Cereals1 Cereal substitutes2 1987 3,521 1,091 1988 3,370 1,144 1989 5,102 833 1990 2,823 1,235 1 Excluding rice. 2 As defined in Annex D of EC Regulation 2727/75. Source: Her Majesty's Customs and Excise.