asked the Minister of Food if, without giving details of the contracts, he will indicate how the price being paid for the 50,000 tons of meat recently ordered in the U.S.A. compares with the similar meat purchased in Denmark.

The United States meat has not been bought under one contract. We have just started to buy supplies from individual exporters, and until the whole 50,000 tons has been reached, no price comparisons can be made.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that in Denmark food producers are under the impression that they are getting considerably less than they might be paid in America, and will he see that there is no serious discrepancy?

They might be getting less than might be paid, but the question is whether they are getting less than will he paid.

May I ask whether the right hon. Gentleman has changed his policy—has now given up bulk purchasing to some extent, and has to go for help to private traders?

No, Sir. The hon. Member has always been under a misapprehension about this. These purchases have never been made in the way he suggests. We get permission from the Government of the United States to buy and export. The actual purchasing is not done in bulk. Various purchases are made from time to time from the sellers of various kinds of meat in the United States.