asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he is aware of separate costings being carried out by milk processors and An Foras Talúntais which show a difference of threepence per gallon to cover the cost of manufacturing and transport of skim milk powder; and if he is in a position to explain this difference.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Milk Powder.
9.
I presume that in the case of An Foras Talúntais the Deputy is referring to the study which appeared in a recent issue of the Irish Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology. I am not, however, aware of the separate costings by milk processors mentioned by the Deputy.
10.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the estimated annual output of whole milk powder in 1968 or at the latest date for which figures are available; and the countries to which this product is exported.
The output of whole milk powder in 1968 was 11,830 tons. Quantities in excess of 50 tons were exported to each of the following areas:— Britain and the Six Counties, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Canary Islands, Israel, Lebanon, United States, Surinam, Hong Kong, Bermuda and Saudi Arabia. Smaller quantities, totalling about 60 tons in all, were exported to a number of other destinations.
It will be a great help to our competitors to know that. The Deputy is doing a good job to help our competitors.
Is that not a most ignorant observation?
11.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries whether the 1968 output of skim milk powder was adequate to supply all export markets available.
The quantity of skim milk powder produced in 1968, together with the stocks carried over from 1967, was adequate to meet all export orders which gave a tolerable return. Further export orders would have represented a return to the producer of only about 2d per gallon for skim milk.