British farmers told to improve

Press, 12 October 1988, Page 29

British farmers told to improve

By

TONY VERDON

in London British sheepfarmers have been told they must improve the marketing of their product to fend off lamb imports from New Zealand. A House of Lords select committee report released in London criticises the way mutton and lamb are marketed in Britain, and says these deficiencies must be remedied if British producers are to take full advantage of a more open single European market in 1992.

The report also says that British lamb producers must accept as inevitable the phasing out of the present special variable subsidy they now receive.

The subsidy effectively makes lamb cheaper in Britain than in the rest of the European Community for most of the year.

It makes up the difference between market prices of sheep and the guaranteed price set in Brussels each year, and acts like the old deficiency payment farm support system which Britain had to abandon when it joined the Community.

The House of Lords Select Committee on the European Communities says in its report that the ending of the subsidy system should encourage British farmers to recognise the returns from the market, with consequent improvements in production and marketing. The committee expresses concerns about the possibility of increased imports of New Zealand lamb into Britain, and supports the renegotiation of import arrangements with nonE.E.C. suppliers, notably New Zealand.