To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average price was of a pound of sugar produced (a) in the UK and (b) overseas in 2006; and what volume of sugar produced in the UK was exported in that year. (132809)

[holding answer 20 April 2007]: The volume of exports of sugar¹ from sugar beet was 865 thousand tonnes in 2006.

The information on sugar prices is not available in the form requested. However, the average producer price of refined granulated sugar in the UK in 2006 was 74.4 pence per kilogram.

From statistics on overseas trade the average price of exported sugar derived from the value and volume of exports of sugar¹ from sugar beet was 24.3 pence per kilogram in 2006. The average price of imported sugar derived from the value and volume of imports of sugar¹ was 40.1 pence per kilogram in 2006.

¹ Sugar is in various states—volumes have been adjusted where necessary onto a refined basis