§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will state(a) the price at which British wholesalers buy beef per tonne, 490W (b) what she estimates the price of beef per tonne would be in a free market without European Community price intervention, (c) the levels of European Community production and consumption of beef, (d) the level of common agricultural policy expenditure on beef subsidies and (e) the cost to the British Exchequer of European Community intervention in the beef market.
§ Mr. JackThe cattle reference price for the week commencing 17 February 1994 was £1,152.30 per tonne. However, 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 Community policy were to be changed.
It is provisionally estimated that EC production of beef in 1993 was 7,980 thousand tonnes and EC consumption was 7,755 thousand tonnes.
The level CAP expenditure on beef subsidies in the 1993 EC budget years was some £3,131 million and the Exchequer costs of CAP support for beef in the United Kingdom is estimated at £308 million for the 1993–94 financial year. The United Kingdom also contributes to the EC budget as a whole, which funds the cost of beef support in other member states.