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Written question asked by Alan Simpson (Labour) on Friday, 20 April 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 24 April 2007. It was answered by Barry Gardiner (Labour) on Thursday, 3 May 2007 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Seeds: Imports

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many lots of seeds for (a) maize and sweetcorn, (b) winter oilseed rape, (c) spring oilseed rape, (d) sugar beet, (e) fodder beet, (f) beetroot and (g) winter brassicas were imported into the UK in (i) 2005 and (ii) 2006; and what the (A) weight and (B) country of origin of the seeds was in each year.
Answer

The following table gives the volume of seeds imported to the UK by country of despatch in 2005 and 2006 for the seed types recorded in the official overseas trade statistics. Note, some of the seed types requested are not separately available.The statistics are provided by country of despatch rather than country of origin. Details of country of origin are not available for the vast majority of imported seeds.The data are subject to a degree of statistical error. The overall level of errors is low, but these errors have a much greater proportional effect on countries with small values or volumes of trade. Therefore, care is needed when interpreting the data.

Tonnes
Description/country 2005 2006
Maize seed for sowing excl. sweetcorn
Irish Republic 13,054 4,345
France 5,813 3,162
Netherlands 1,817 1,784
Germany 731 1,660
Italy — 306
Austria 72 39
Pakistan 8 14
Spain 12 7
Belgium — 16
USA 3 2
Dubai — 3
Colombia — 3
Australia — 2
Sweden 1 —
New Zealand — 0
Portugal 0 0
Denmark 0 —
Low erucic acid rape or colza seeds for sowing
France 196 471
Germany 350 40
Denmark 0 15
Netherlands 4 4
Sweden 6 —
Irish Republic 1 1
Austria 0 —
New Zealand 0 —
Other rape seed o/t low erucic acid rape
France 3,453 18,172
Irish Republic 3,039 3,604
Belgium 22 3,423
Netherlands 0 2,104
Germany 4 109
Egypt 61 —
New Zealand 2 —
Sugar beet seed of a kind used for sowing
Italy 457 —
Germany 27 86
Belgium 9 91
France 65 31
Poland 2 57
Irish Republic 6 18
Denmark — 5
Netherlands 3 —
Sweden 0 —
Salad beet seed or fodder beet root seed
Netherlands 24 22
USA 34 0
Australia 3 3
Italy — 0
Germany — 0
Beet seed other than sugar beet seed
Germany 71 32
France 3 4
Denmark — 1
Netherlands 0 0
Italy 0 0
Portugal 0 —
Belgium — 0
Other vegetable seeds of a kind used for sowing
Netherlands 808 3,961
Germany 270 221
France 66 301
USA 103 108
Austria 67 67
Italy 61 51
India 39 39
Canada 46 4
New Zealand 4 44
Chile 30 0
Egypt 19 12
Czech Republic — 24
Denmark 8 8
Irish Republic 8 7
Japan 9 5
Spain 6 5
Australia 9 3
Lebanon 10 —
Israel 4 4
Portugal 6 —
Brazil 4 —
China 1 3
Sweden 1 2
Taiwan 1 1
South Africa 0 2
Singapore 2 —
Belgium 2 0
South Korea 0 1
Ghana — 1
Thailand 1 0
Hong Kong — 1
Lithuania — 0
Ukraine 0 —
Switzerland 0 0
Jordan 0 0
Greece 0 —
Argentina 0 —
Poland 0 0
Hungary 0 0
Uganda — 0
Cyprus 0 —
0 = quantity less than half the unit shown
‘—’ = nil values
Note:
2006 data are subject to amendments
Source:
HM Revenue and Customs
Data prepared by Trade statistics, Agricultural Statistics and Analysis Division, DEFRA

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
133933; 459 c1797-800W
Session
2006-07
Subjects
Imports Seeds
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk