Manufacturers demand to limit its import

On Friday, the most influential agricultural industry associations demanded an increase in duties on meat imports. Over the past years, almost all initiatives of the “meat lobby” have been supported by the state, and this time is unlikely to be an exception, experts say. In confirmation of their words, President Viktor Yushchenko issued a decree on the same day in which he demanded that the Cabinet of Ministers make life more difficult for meat importers.

The sharp increase in imports of meat and meat products into Ukraine has led to a reduction in production volumes within the country, representatives of the Association of Poultry Farmers of Ukraine, the Tvarinprom Corporation, the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation, the Association of Farmers and Landowners and other smaller associations said at a press conference on Friday. agricultural producers. They demanded that the government reintroduce a 13 percent surcharge on the import duty on meat, which was abolished in March, and allocate an additional UAH 1.5 billion from the budget as subsidies for livestock farming. “If our demands are not met, producers will dump by-products under the walls of the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada,” promised the head of the All-Ukrainian Union of Agricultural Enterprises, Yuriy Karasik.

Industry associations reported that over the four months of this year, meat imports to Ukraine increased by 2.5 times compared to the same period last year, to 158 thousand tons. This led to a reduction in pork production by 18.2% and beef by 4. 4%. “Only by April 24, the Ministry of Economy issued 234 licenses to importers to import 3.9 million tons of meat and offal. This is enough to cover demand in the meat market for two years, excluding products produced in the country,” the associations said in a joint statement . Kommersant was unable to obtain comments from importing companies.

According to market participants, in 2005-2008, pork production increased by almost 30%, to 140 thousand tons, poultry meat - by 47%, to 636 thousand tons. Only beef and veal production decreased - by 13%, to 150 thousand tons. In 2008, the volume of meat imports, according to the Union of Poultry Farmers of Ukraine, amounted to about 560 thousand tons. The volume of consumption on the domestic market is about 2 million tons.

Meat producers have a very serious lobby - public speeches by representatives of industry associations have repeatedly led to changes in the rules of the game in the market: in 2005, the Verkhovna Rada voted for a six-month moratorium on the import of poultry meat into Ukraine; in 2006, the State Committee of Veterinary Medicine banned the supply of livestock products from Moldova, Belarus and Poland, and in 2007 the government introduced a ban on the supply of raw meat under tolling schemes (for more details, see the reference). “Undoubtedly, the government will satisfy the demands of the butchers this time too,” says Sergei Nalivka, director of the consulting company AAA, “after all, the largest poultry farmers are donors to the BYuT party fund.”

President Viktor Yushchenko also took the side of meat producers. A few hours after the press conference, a decree “On some measures to improve the financial condition of the agricultural sector of the economy and the development of livestock farming” was posted on its website. According to the document, the Cabinet of Ministers must “take measures to limit the import of goods to protect agricultural producers from dumping imports, and also take into account the costs of repairs and construction of livestock complexes, stimulation by increasing the amount of state support for producers of high-quality milk and meat."

Alena Kommersant-Golubeva

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