§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what area of land is used to grow sugar beet in each EU member state, together with the percentage of that area that would be eligible for IACS payments if alternative crops were grown. [146411]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 22 January 2001]: Sugar beet is grown on about 1.5 per cent. of the EU agricultural area, and the breakdown by member state is as follows. So long as this land met the requirements of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1251/1999 (effectively meaning that it had been used for sugar beet or other arable production at some time during the five years to 31 December 1991), it would generally all be eligible for payments under the Arable Area Payments Scheme if eligible crops such as cereals and oilseeds were grown on it
Thousand ha Member state Beet area 2000–01 Austria 43 Belgium/Luxembourg 95 Denmark 58 Finland 33 France 361 Germany 452 Greece 50 Ireland 33 Italy 240 Netherlands 112 Portugal 8 Spain 130 Sweden 56 UK 150 Total EU 15 1,821
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) how much sugar by weight and value was exported from each Association of Caribbean Producers nation covered by the Sugar Protocol to(a) the United Kingdom and (b) the European Union; [146413]
(2) if he will state the latest intervention price for (a) beet sugar under the EU sugar regime, (b) cane sugar imported from the Association of Caribbean Producers countries under the EU sugar regime, (c) world prices for beet sugar and (d) world prices for cane sugar. [146412]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 22 January 2001]: The relevant information is set out in the tables.
625W
Table 1: Exports to UK and EU (October 1999 to September 2000) UK imports(thousand tonnes white sugar equivalent) Value(£ million) Other EU Imports(thousand tones white sugar equivalent) Value(£ million) Barbados 48 16 0 0 Belize 50 15 12 4 Guyana 174 59 36 12 Jamaica 133 44 33 11 St. Kitts 16 5 0 0 Trinidad and Tobago 43 12 9 3 Total 464 151 90 30 Note:
UK imports based on EU and C&E data (provisional). Other EU imports data from European Commission, with value derived using statutory minimum prices.
Table 2: Prices euro/tonne £/tonne White sugar intervention price (UK) 646.5 414.21 Raw sugar intervention price 523.7 335.53 Sugar Protocol guaranteed price (white) 646.5 414.21 Sugar Protocol guaranteed price (raw) 523.7 335.53 Special Preferential Sugar price (raw) 496.8 318.30 World price1 (white) 263.7 168.95 World price1 (raw) 264.2 169.27 1 World prices based on London spot prices for 18 January 2001 Note:
Exchange rate: euro/£=0.6407