Translated material
At any cost for our money
Russians will pay for food security
Spring has come, rural workers went out into the fields in unison, and at the end of last week officials came out with a united front in support of the domestic agricultural producer. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade is preparing changes to the meat import quota system designed to encourage suppliers to reduce imports of these products. The head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Alexei Gordeev, appealed to the Federation Council to speed up the adoption of the law “On Food Security,” which is necessary for the development of domestic production. Agricultural producers themselves are not confident in the quick effect of the proposed measures. There is a possibility that in the current conditions they will lead not to an increase in domestic production, but to an increase in inflation.The Ministry of Economic Development, together with the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the Ministry of Agriculture, plan in April to change the system of distribution of quotas for imports of poultry, pork and beef. Currently, the volume of supplies within quotas is determined on the basis of customs statistics for the previous year. These deliveries are subject to a preferential duty of 15% of the customs value. Excess quota imports are subject to increased duties: in 2008, duties on poultry meat will amount to 60% of the customs value, but not less than 0.48 euros per kilogram, on pork - also 60%, but not less than one euro per kilogram, and on beef - - 30%, but not less than 0.3 euros per kilogram. According to the quota established by the government, this year we can import 1.2 million tons of poultry meat, 500 thousand tons of pork, 480 thousand tons of beef.
The current system of determining quotas leads to the fact that importers, trying to retain a large quota, are forced to choose it in full each time, importing meat, even if its supplies turn out to be unprofitable. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade proposes to expand the basis for calculating quotas to two to three years and to average the volume of quotas per year.
“We will make proposals agreed upon with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia in early April, since according to the established regulations, the remaining 75% of quotas for 2008 must be distributed by April 15,” a source in the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade told news agencies. 25% of meat quotas for the current year were already distributed in December last year.
Minister of Agriculture Alexey Gordeev is dissatisfied with the measures being taken today to protect domestic producers . “We are concerned about the growing growth in imports, primarily dairy and meat products. If we do not resolve these issues, the growth of agricultural production may stop,” he said. According to Rosstat, in 2007, agricultural production at comparable prices increased by 3.3% compared to 2006. And in the first two months of 2008 alone, pork imports to Russia increased by 30%. “Our Western partners are taking tough measures, for example subsidizing exports, and we must resist this,” the minister said.
Alexey Gordeev advocates eliminating the oversupply of meat imports and adopting a law on food security. “We need to have calculations of the mandatory minimum level of production of socially important food products. There are no such calculations in the country; these criteria are not approved by law, which creates uncertainty and instability in agricultural policy,” the minister believes. Accordingly, import volumes will be determined based on calculations of domestic production.
But this is all a matter of an uncertain future. And already in April, the Ministry of Agriculture will prepare a methodology for calculating price parity for agricultural products and products used by agricultural producers, and a price monitoring system. Maintaining parity of such prices, according to Mr. Gordeev, should be one of the main goals of state agricultural policy. After all, for example, over the past eight years, the price of diesel fuel for the agricultural sector has increased 5.7 times, while wheat has risen in price by 3.2 times.
Experts agree with Mr. Gordeev that current conditions do not allow for effective incentives for domestic producers. “We cannot compete with foreign agricultural producers in either meat or grain production,” a market participant told Vremya Novostey. - This is due to both natural conditions and the level of support for agriculture abroad. Quotas are protective measures against excessive competition, but they will not work without subsidies, which are needed to develop our own production.”
The newspaper's interlocutor cited specific examples of direct incentives for agricultural producers abroad. In France, for example, farmers buy fuel and lubricants at special prices. The French even introduced markings, fuel at a special price is painted in a different color. How they agreed with fuel producers is another question; they probably provided tax breaks. In Japan, the government primarily purchases rice from its own producers, although it is 3.5 times more expensive than what could be bought in Korea. But no one has the right to buy abroad until they buy up domestic rice.
We, despite the existence of the national project “Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex,” have nothing like this. “The money allocated for the development of agriculture is provided on credit, unlike, for example, the national projects “Education” and “Health.” For most agricultural producers, the selection criteria for participation in the project are impossible, and given the rapid increase in prices for fuels and lubricants compared to prices for agricultural products, repayment of loans is problematic,” says the expert. But even if additional measures are taken to increase production, it will still take time. While two to three years are sufficient to increase pork production, raising cattle requires more time. Thus, with a reduction in imports, it will take some time to replace them with domestic products. We are not yet facing a shortage, but in conditions where the slightest changes in the supply of goods cause a positive reaction from inflation, it is unlikely that we will be able to avoid rising prices for meat products.
The Minister of Agriculture is counting heavily on the development of private cooperatives, which, in his opinion, should provide the market with agricultural products. Formally, there are changes in this regard. The number of cooperatives in the country has increased over two years from 900 to 3,700. But this is unlikely to illustrate the law of the transition from quantity to quality. “Cooperatives are just a way to avoid taxes. Production efficiency does not depend on the form of ownership,” experts advise against deluding yourself.