§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the average(a) market price and (b) cost of production, per tonne of wheat in the last 12 months. [136965]
§ Ms Quin[holding answer 6 November 2000]The average farm-gate price of bread-making wheat in the UK during the last 12 months was £82.39 per tonne. The average price of feed wheat was £68.86 per tonne. Current prices are, however, lower than this. In addition to receipts from the sale of the crop, most producers received revenues from area payments and straw sales.
Estimates of production costs are published in "Farm Incomes in the United Kingdom". The latest published information relates to the 1998–99 marketing year. Estimates for the 1999–2000 marketing year will be published in the next edition in March 2001. The publication does not include information on fixed costs, because of the difficulty of allocating these items between commodities.