§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many sheep were imported(a) live and (b) in carcase form into the United Kingdom from continental Europe and Ireland, broken down by country of origin, in each of the last five years and in 1999 to date. [95814]
§ Ms Quin[holding answer 28 October 1999]: The number of live sheep imported into Great Britain from other member states since 1994 is given in the following table. These figures are derived from the information messages which European law requires exporting countries to send to the importing country to inform them of the number of animals certified for export in a given consignment.
Figures are not available for Northern Ireland at this time.
374W
Country 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 19991 Belgium 535 206 165 272 230 486 Germany 0 22 4 0 8 0 Denmark 0 0 0 0 3 0 Spain 1,750 0 0 0 51 0 France 29 46 370 12 61 6 Republic of Ireland 2,055 46 1,956 983 6,117 624 Netherlands 122 544 79 519 234 272 Portugal 0 0 0 524 0 0 Total 4,491 864 2,574 2,310 6,704 1,388 Note:
These figures are provisional and subject to validation.
The product weight (in tonnes) of sheep in carcase form imported into the United Kingdom from other member states as recorded on the Official Overseas Trade Statistics is given in the following table. The number of sheep that this represents is not known.
Country 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 19991 Belgium 1,467 1,821 736 443 482 5 Germany 133 195 2,554 1,672 817 214 Denmark 22 31 653 50 11 135 Spain 466 343 1,946 2,482 1,920 816 France 920 1,330 1,854 1,209 1,208 945 Republic of Ireland 2,672 2,918 3,784 3,313 1,775 1,061 Netherlands 3,856 4,487 5,613 6,418 5,097 2,647 Italy 0 0 202 68 150 1 Austria 0 0 17 16 0 0 Greece 29 0 0 0 0 0 Sweden 0 0 28 0 0 0 Finland 0 0 0 13 0 0 Total 9,565 11,125 17,387 15,684 11,460 5.824 1 To October 1999 Note:
Please note that these data are subject to a degree of statistical error; care is needed when interpreting this data.