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Mr. Austin Mitchell
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the differences between the support price and the market price for sheepmeat in 1983–84, 1984–85 to date and in 1969.
Mr. MacGregor
The following table gives the information requested. However, the mechanisms of the fat sheep guarantee scheme which applied in 1969 differed from those of the Community sheepmeat regime which replaced it in 1980.
| 1969–70 | 1983–84 | 1984–85 | |
| Fat Sheep Guarantee Scheme | |||
| Guaranteed price £/100kg | 40·04 | ||
| Community Sheepmeat Regime | |||
| Basic price £/100kg | 257·40 | 264·81 | |
| Average guide price £/100kg | 227·30 | 225·09 | |
| Market Price | |||
| Annual Average Market Price p/kg | 38·94 | 147·90 | *165·23 |
| Hectares | |||||
| 1955 | 1965 | 1970 | 1979 | 1984 | |
| Vegetables grown in the open | 177,600 | 142,100 | 198,400 | 193,600 | 139,600 |
| Orchard fruit | 102,800 | 78,400 | 63,200 | 46,300 | 37,100 |
| Small fruit | 16,600 | 15,000 | 13,000 | 13,800 | 12,900 |
| Hardy nursery stock, bulbs and flowers | 10,900 | 13,300 | 14,300 | 11,600 | 11,400 |
| Area under glass or plastic covered structures | 1,800 | 2,000 | 1,800 | 2,100 | 2,100 |
for by variable premiums, either in isolation or in combination with other grants and subsidies. The percentage figures given in the reply of 19 December 1984 at column 200 therefore do not include variable premium payments.