§ Mr. TippingTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to her answer of 24 June,Official Report, column 391, when she expects the 1992 CAP reform agreement to be fully implemented; what benefit of that reform deal has been experienced by consumers in food prices to date; what estimates she has of the costs of the CAP to the consumer in (i) 1992 and (ii) 1993; what foodstuffs she expects will cost consumers less; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. Jack[holding answer 4 July 1994]: The 1992 CAP reforms will be fully implemented by the end of the 1995–96 marketing years for those commodities affected. The reforms will result in particular in a reduction in the support prices for cereals and beef of around 35 per cent. and 15 per cent. respectively. Overall, the effect of CAP reform will be to reduce support prices by an amount equivalent to 2 per cent. of retail food prices, the effect being spread over a number of years. However, movements in retail food prices are influenced by a wide range of factors and it is not possible to isolate the impact of any single factor over a particular period.
Estimates of the total cost of the CAP to consumers are not possible without making speculative assumptions about current levels of world prices and the changes in these prices if present policies were abandoned.