§ Mr. MorleyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much milk was produced and consumed in(a) the United Kingdom and (b) the European Community as a whole in each of the last five years.
§ Mr. Jack[holding answer 31 January 1994]: The quantity of milk produced by dairy cows and the quantity of liquid milk consumed in both the EC as a whole and in the United Kingdom are given in the table.
Production and consumption in the former GDR is excluded from the EC total for the years 1987 to 1989 inclusive. Production includes deliveries to dairies, sales direct from farms, milk consumed on farm, milk fed to stock and wastage. The drinking milk consumption figure includes whole milk, semi-skimmed milk, skimmed milk and buttermilk. It is derived as production plus imports less exports, less stock change and less wastage.
The decision of the European Court of Justice on joined cases C267 and C268/91—Keck and Mithouard—of 24 November 1993 is very recent, and its full implications for intra-Community trade are still being considered. The cases relate to national measures which prohibit the reselling of products at prices less than their actual purchase price. In concluding that the purpose of the national measures under consideration was not to regulate trade in goods between member states, the European Court of Justice held that the measures were permissible provided that they had the same effect, in law and in fact, upon all products, domestic or imported, of the same kind, and were not used expressly to prohibit or restrict imports or to inhibit free trade.
637WI have no reason to believe that there is any similarity between the situation addressed by the European Court in the cases referred to, and the current situation of over-supply of salmon to the European market.