§ Mr. ÖpikTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on his policy regarding the use of British cereal feed in the UK. [37101]
§ Mr. RookerThe use of UK grown cereals in animal feed rations is a matter for commercial decision by farmers and animal feed manufacturers.
§ Mr. ÖpikTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what percentage of imports of cereal feed comes from the USA; and if he will make a statement; [37103]
(2) how many tonnes of British cereal feed were consumed in the UK in each of the last five years. [37100]
§ Mr. RookerOnly a small proportion of cereals used as animal feed in the UK are imported—on average
660Waround 5 per cent. Imports from the USA of cereals for feed use are not differentiated from imports of other cereals, but the quantities used for feed are thought to be small.
Cereal usage for animal feed is calculated on a crop year basis. Crop years run from the beginning of July to the end of June. In the last five crop years, the tonnage of cereals used for animal feed, which were produced and used in the UK, was:
Thousand tones 1992–93 7,776 1993–94 8,233 1994–95 8,662 1995–96 8,607 1996–97 9,031