§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will bring up to date the information on sheepmeat and on common agricultural policy product sales in his written answers dated 28 April 1986,Official Report, columns 315–16.
§ Mr. CurryThe following figures show the amount by which the average market price of sheepmeat fell short of the guide price during the marketing years 1986 to 1990:
Year Great Britain Northern Ireland p/kg P/kg 1986 42.2 33.5 1987 43.1 26.1 1988 69.7 38.7 1989 62.2 44.2 1990 83.7 87.2 The average market prices for sheepmeat for the week beginning 14 October are currently forecast as being below the seasonal guide price by 125p/kg for Great Britain and 89p/kg for Northern Ireland, but because of seasonal variations this is not an indication of the eventual figure for the marketing year.
The following table gives updated details of exports of selected common agricultural policy commodities to non-EC countries in 1990. Expenditure on export refunds in 1990 was 7,722 million ecu.
248W
'000 tonnes EC12 Wheat 16,635 Wheat flour 2,907 Barley 9,655 Malt 1,350 Rice 370 Sugar1 5,035 of which: raw sugar1 35 refined sugar 5,000
'000 tonnes EC12 Olive oil 177 Oilseeds 59 Whole milk powder 502 Skimmed milk powder 324 Condensed milk 349 Butter and buttermilk 199 Beef and veal 647 Sheepmeat 6 Pigmeat 298 Poultrymeat 414 Eggs 100 Wine 1,168 1 Includes raw sugar converted to white sugar equivalent: 1 tonne raw sugar=0.92 tonnes white sugar. Source: Eurostat.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will publish a table showing for the principal agricultural products regulated under the common agricultural policy the amount of levy payable on importation from non-EEC countries, the amount of the levy and any customs duties payable, the latest United Kingdom price, the intervention or threshold price, the target price and the world price.
§ Mr. CurryInformation on intervention, threshold and target prices was set out in the note deposited in the Library of the House giving details of the common agricultural policy prices settlement 1991–92. Details of customs duties are contained in the "Integrated Tariff of the United Kingdom", a copy of which is in the Library of the House. The remainder of the information requested is set out for the main commodities in tables 1 and 2. The world prices shown in table 1 are generally the lowest offer prices at the Community frontier underlying the Commission's calculation of variable import levies. I would remind the hon. Member that these are the lowest prices recorded and it is almost certain that higher prices on average would have to be paid for supplies if existing agricultural support policies were dismantled. The world prices shown do not necessarily relate to the same quality or presentation of products for which United Kingdom market prices are set out in table 2.
Table 1 Levy applicable in the United Kingdom and notional " World" price (a) on 26 October 1991 for the main traded agricultural commodities Levy (b) applicable in the UK Notional "world" price (£/tonne) (£/tonne) Common wheat 119 67 Barley 109 61 Maize 95 75 Rice 277 157 Sugar (c) 340 170 Olive oil 468 1,043 Butter (d) 1,984 637 Skimmed milk powder 920 630 Cheese (Cheddar) 1,794 956 Beef and veal (e) 1,990 1,079 Pigmeat 521 754 Sheepmeat (f) n/a n/a Poultrymeat 281 903 Eggs 274 679 Note:
(a) "World" prices have been calculated by subtracting the levy applicable on 26 October from the threshold/guide price. The beef price is also adjusted for duty. In the case of pigmeat, poultrymeat 249W and eggs, the "world" price has been taken as the sluicegate price for the headings defined in (b) below. The resulting estimate has been converted from ECU/t at the appropriate market rate of exchange of £0.806057=1 ECU.
(b) The rates of levy vary for different tariff headings. The rates quoted are: beef and veal—carcase; pigmeat—carcase; poultrymeat—70 per cent. chickens; rice—husked long grain; olive oil—virgin lampante: eggs—in shell.
(c) In practice the United Kingdom's imports from third countries are normally covered by the Lome Convention and enter the Community levy-free.
(d) A special lower rate of levy is applicable to imports of butter from New Zealand.
(e) Most imports of beef from third countries are subject to special arrangements allowing entry at reduced levy rates.
(f) Imports of lamb under voluntary restraint arrangements with principal suppliers and related agreements enter free of charge. Any imports outside these arrangements are subject to levies which cannot exceed the 20 per cent. tariff bound in the GATT.
Table 2 Selected average market/wholesale prices United Kingdom Prices are for week ending 26 October 1991 unless otherwise stated £/tonne Wheat (grower to merchant price, all purchases, England and Wales) 1125 Barley (grower to merchant price, all purchases, England and Wales) 1117 Maize (USA cif N. Europe) 2117 Rice (US long grain rice 10 per cent, maximum broken) 3657 Sugar (Refined bulk granulated) 583 Butter (Great Britain salted) 2,123 Skimmed Milk Powder 41,450 Cheddar Cheese (English mild white creamery) 2,075 Fat Cattle (Great Britain all clean cattle, liveweight) 1,036 Beef (Scotch killed sides, Smithfield) 2,127 Fat Sheep (Certified Great Britain, estimated dressed carcase weight) 1,108 Fat Pigs (All pigs, deadweight) 963 Poultry Meat (Broilers, liveweight) 547 Eggs (Size 3, packer to producer price) 491 Olive oil 5—
June 1990 England and Wales (excluding minor holdings) Table 1. Holdings by crops and grass size groups Hectares <50 50–<100 100–<200 200 and over Total Holdings (thousands) 115.4 31.1 17.1 7.9 171.5 Crops and grass (thousands hectares) 2,035.3 2,197.9 2,348.5 2,707.6 9,289.3
Table 2. Holdings by beef cow size groups Head 1–9 10–39 40–49 50 and over Total Holdings (thousands) 22.5 £7.1 2.0 4.3 45.8 Beef cows (thousand head) 87.7 347.5 86.8 357.9 879.9
Table 3. Holdings by dairy cow size groups Head <50 50–69 70–99 100 and over Total Holdings (thousand) 15.8 6.4 6.3 6.7 35.1 Dairy cows (thousand head) 425.1 373.1 518.6 1,007.6 2,324.4 250W
Table 4. Holdings by total cereals (excluding maize) size groups Hectares <40 40–<50 50–<10 100–<150 150 and over Total Holdings (thousand) 38.2 3.9 10.4 4.3 4.5 61.3 Total cereals (thousand ha.) 571.1 172.6 739.8 527.8 1,116.5 3,127.8 Note: A wide range of price quotations exists for individual commodities depending on quality, presentation, stage of marketing etc. Those shown are intended generally to be illustrative of prices paid by wholesalers or received by producers. Some prices are highly seasonal.
1Week ending 24 October: prices are before deducting co-responsibility levy.
2Prices unquoted since 14 September. Average price listed latest average levy as at 24 October.
3Weeek ending 31 October.
4Average price for month of October.
5Prices range from £1,611–£3,683/tonne, with `Lampante' Spanish Origin at £2,141/tonne.