§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will provide a table showing the average amount paid to a farmer per litre of milk, in the most recent year for which figures are available, in each of the countries to which the common agricultural policy applies. [HL5424]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)The table below gives the most recent data available from Eurostat on the average farmgate price of milk of 3.7 per cent fat content in euros per 100 kg for the EU 15.
The data show that UK farmgate prices are consistently below the EU average. The reasons for this were examined by KPMG in their report on Prices and Profitability in the British Dairy Chain, which was commissioned by the Milk Development Council. The report concluded that the lower prices were the result of the structure of the UK dairy sector, the comparatively low value of the mix of dairy products in the UK and a low level of innovation. It also suggested a number of areas where the efficiency of the dairy supply chain could be improved.
Selling price of raw cows milk, 3.7 per cent fat content: EU 15 (Euros per kg) 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002¹ Belgium 27.47 26.33 27.44 29.93 26.37 Denmark 30.80 30.26 30.86 32.34 — Germany 29.52 28.47 30.00 32.82 29.98 Greece 32.72 33.69 33.47 35.62 34.55 Spain 27.99 27.33 27.05 30.33 28.12 France 28.52 28.11 28.81 29.99 29.26 Ireland 27.92 26.66 27.20 28.56 — Italy 34.84 34.23 — — — Luxembourg 31.45 30.65 30.53 32.73 31.89 Netherlands 30.59 28.62 29.15 31.27 29.65 Austria 27.64 27.76 27.83 31.76 30.14 Portugal 28.39 28.49 28.97 32.17 32.87 Finland 32.05 32.15 32.72 33.97 34.36 Sweden 32.71 33.11 34.74 31.22 — United Kingdom 26.76 26.13 26.09 25.57 — Source: Eurostat Cronos Database.
1Eurostat data for 2002 is not yet complete.