§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the total amount of subsidy paid on agricultural exports from the European Union under the common agricultural policy in each of the last five years; whether they will break this down by commodities; and what was the effect of the subsidy in reducing prices (a) in total and (b) for each commodity. [HL4373]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)The following table gives the total 197WA amount of subsidy paid on the export from the European Union under the common agricultural policy of the listed products in each of the last five years by commodity and in total.
Ecu/Euro millions Year Sector 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Arable Crops 429.4 883.1 823.6 259.8 99.3 Sugar 1,265.5 1,592.6 1,438.8 1,008.2 1,151.6 Olive oil 24.9 2.5 0.2 0.2 0.1 Fruit and vegetables 58.3 40.4 46.1 50.8 46.4 Wine 41.2 27.4 21.5 22.5 23.8 Other plant sectors 49.6 30.5 38.4 38.7 41.1 Milk and milk products 1,426.7 1,439.4 1,671.0 1,106.5 1,159.6 Beef/Veal 774.5 594.9 661.3 362.6 386.7 Pigmeat, eggs and poultrymeat 165.2 385.6 348.2 115.7 104.4 Totals 4,235.3 4,996.4 5,049.1 2,965.0 3,013.0 In general export subsidies facilitate the export of products which would not otherwise be competitive on the world market. Export subsidies therefore reduce domestic EU supplies and increase extra-EU market supplies relative to the situation which would prevail in their absence. This implies that the EU price will he higher, and the external price lower, than in the absence of those subsidies.
However, the effect of any particular export subsidy on prices will depend on the method of administering the export refund system for that product, conditions on world markets, the geographical destination of the exports and characteristics of the product consignment.