§ Mr. Martyn JonesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the United Kingdom trade deficit or surplus in respect of indigenous fruit and vegetables as defined by "Food from Britain" for each year from 1990 to 1994. [14925]
§ Mr. JackThe crude overseas trade deficit in respect of indigenous fruit and vegetables is given in the following table; the information for 1994 is not yet available.
£ million 1990 1991 1992 19931 Crude trade gap 861 883 896 919 1 Provisional.
§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is(a) the latest European Commission estimate for the amount of tonnes of (i) apples, (ii) tomatoes, (iii) cauliflowers and (iv) peaches and nectarines withdrawn from the market to raise consumer prices and (b) the cost of this policy to public funds in the United Kingdom, breaking this figure down into (1) the running costs of the policy and (2) the amount which the policy adds on food prices. [16152]
§ Mr. JackThe latest estimates from the European Commission for the 1995 budget year (16 October 1994 to 15 October 1995) are:
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- (i) apples - 950,000 tonnes
- (ii) tomatoes - 70,000 tonnes
- (iii) cauliflowers - 80,000 tonnes
- (iv) peaches - 800,000 tonnes
- (v) nectarines - 195,000 tonnes
It is not possible to estimate the UK contribution to the cost of withdrawals of fruit and vegetables across the European Community as the UK contributes to the common agricultural policy budget as a whole and not to individual parts of it.
Estimates of the amount that the policy adds to retail prices of fruit and vegetables are not available, but are likely to be relatively small.