asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries whether the Government will be involved in the discussions which the President of the British Board of Trade will hold in the summer with New Zealand and Australia to decide whether extra imports of butter will be needed for the British market.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - British Butter Imports.
38.
Mr. O'Leary
The discussions which the British authorities propose to hold with New Zealand and Australia arise from Britain's arrangements with those countries in regard to imports of butter. Britain's arrangements with us in this regard are set out in the Exchange of Letters in connection with the Free Trade Agreement. These provide for an increase in our basic butter quota from 12,905 tons to 23,000 tons for the quota year ending March, 1967, and on the basis of our present estimates of milk production this quota is adequate to cover the amount of butter which we expect to have available for export to the UK during the year.
I might add that we were in fact consulted recently about supplementary allocations which the British authorities were proposing to make for 1966-67 and which have now been announced. These supplementary allocations are considerably less than those made for 1965-66 and if we had been depending on them, our butter exports would have been seriously restricted.