§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will state(a) the price at which British wholesalers buy olive oil per tonne, (b) what she estimates the price of olive oil per tonne would be in a free market without European Community price intervention and (c) the cost to the consumer of taxes on imports of olive oil.
§ Mr. JackThe price of extra virgin olive oil on Community markets in the week beginning 7 February 19941 ranged from 1,850 ecu/tonne—£1,400 per tonne2 —to 2,430 ecu/tonne—£1,850 per tonne2. The EC accounts for approximately 75 per cent. of world production and consumption of olive oil. It is not possible 274W to make precise estimates of the price at which oil would trade without Community support measures or the cost of those measures to the consumer without a large number of assumptions about how the EC and world markets would react if circumstances were to change.
1Source: Commission.
2 Exchange rate 1 ecu=£0.75958.