§ Mr. BreedTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the average(a) farmgate and (b) final consumer price of (i) beef, (ii) lamb, (iii) milk, (iv) cereal, (v) fruit and (vi) vegetable products in the United Kingdom in each year since 1990. [40818]
§ Mr. MorleyThe following table shows estimated average prices paid by consumers for selected foods and the nearest equivalent average UK farmgate prices. The consumer prices reflect the price of imported foods as well as home-grown produce. They also reflect costs, value added and profit margins upstream from the farmgate.
All foods as purchased by consumers will differ to some extent from the ex-farm commodity. Milling wheat will be milled, mixed with other ingredients and further processed to produce bread; meat as retailed will have been de-boned, cut, trimmed of most fat and packaged; raw milk will be treated and fruit and vegetables will be graded and cleaned. These additional processes affect the validity of a direct comparison between the consumer and farmgate prices. 115W
Consumer prices for selected foods and the farmgate price for the nearest equivalent agricultural commodity produced in the UK Pence per kg. unless otherwise stated Food (home-grown and imported) and Commodities (home-grown) 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Potatoes 29 30 29 28 36 49 40 35 49 51 47 Potatoes 10 9 8 6 13 19 10 7 12 12 9 Cabbages 60 65 61 65 64 72 74 70 76 79 86 Cabbages4 18 14 17 14 16 25 18 18 22 18 24 Cauliflowers 73 95 85 97 97 113 105 103 102 101 98 Cauliflowers4 24 25 20 22 22 28 24 23 22 22 24 Leafy salads 155 155 156 165 160 171 183 204 223 236 244 Lettuce 81 78 87 91 71 87 143 121 114 117 100 Carrots 57 60 50 50 52 54 57 52 58 55 56 Carrots4 22 12 11 12 15 20 12 12 16 12 15 Cucumbers 137 126 128 129 114 139 130 125 128 125 129 Cucumbers 55 49 54 57 60 77 62 57 51 46 54 Mushrooms 260 264 274 269 269 278 278 270 278 266 269 Mushrooms 147 153 147 148 152 160 161 158 160 165 170 Tomatoes 140 144 131 130 134 131 141 134 148 162 173 Tomatoes 67 58 52 59 68 58 74 54 59 57 69 1 Estimated price, dressed carcase weight equivalent. 2 Excludes Northern Ireland. 3 Including bonus payments. 4 Crop year prices. Notes:
1. Consumer prices are for Great Britain based upon expenditure and purchased volumes of home-grown and imported foods.
2. Prices in italics are farmgate prices for UK produce.
Sources:
1. National Food Survey annual reports.
2. Agriculture in the United kingdom 2000.
3. Basic Horticultural Statistics for the UK.