§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will state(a) the price at which British wholesalers buy rice per tonne, (b) what she estimates the price of rice per tonne would be in a free market without European Community price intervention and (c) the cost to the British consumer of the common agricultural policy in the rice market.
§ Mr. JackThe answers are as follows:(a) Information on the price of rice to wholesalers is not gathered centrally. (b) It is not possible to make precise estimates about what prices might result if there were no market support in the EC. A large number of assumptions would be required in order to assess how domestic and world markets would react if commodity policy were to be changed. (c) I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for The Wrekin (Mr. Grocott) on 11 January, Official Report, columns 65–6. For the reasons given, it is not possible to estimate the effect of the CAP on the food bill for individual commodities.