Government might negotiate grain supplies for state reserve directly with other governments

The Government of Moldova could negotiate food grain supplies for the state reserve directly with other governments. This announcement was made by Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev at the latest meeting of the Commission for Emergencies. Without naming any country, the Premier mentioned that he had telephone conversations with a number of heads of government that expressed availability to supply Moldova with the needed amount of food wheat. According to some sources, so far no contracts for the wheat offered at the recent tender contest announced by the Government have been concluded. On the date when the offers were made, the Prime Minister was displeased with the high price asked by the suppliers. The Ungheni-based Speranta Moldovei JSC was ready at that moment to supply 20,000 tonnes of wheat for 3,979 lei/tonne. The second company, a Lithuanian one, was ready to sell 5,000 tonnes of wheat for 3,356 lei/tonne. Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev termed the offers as ‘extortion’, used by some groups to artificially raise the price of wheat. He advised the Agency for Public Procurement & Humanitarian Aid to think twice before accepting the offers, and look for new solutions to replenish the grain reserves. The State plans to purchase 50-55 thousand tonnes of wheat for the State Reserve at the price of 3-3.2 lei/kg, depending on gluten content. As a result of the tender contests held earlier, the government bought only 3.8 thousand tonnes from domestic producers. To ensure the food security of the country 350 thousand tonnes of food grain are needed this year. The authorities announce that 190 thousand tonnes were already purchased. The rest will be supplied from imports. The Government has recently approved the Regulation on imports and sales of grain and cereal products, which provides exempting these imports from customs duties and VAT until August 1, 2008.