There is disloyal competition on Moldovan dairy market, foreign investor

The foreign investors say that some of the dairy producers in Moldova create disloyal competition against other producers. Sales manager of “Lactalis-Alba” Serghei Guzun has told Info-Prim Neo that some Moldovan dairy producers do not indicate the real components that they use in the production process. Serghei Guzun said there are Moldovan producers that do not show that their products contain vegetal fats and are presented as veritable milk products. “Lactalis-Alba” has worked on the Moldovan market for 15 years and has been a company with foreign investments in the period. In a meeting with Agriculture Minister Vasile Bumacov earlier, a number of foreign investors said their most serious problem is the disloyal competition on the market. However, no dairy producer filed complaints to the Competition Council to invoke the disloyal competition on the market. On the other hand, the Consumer Protection Agency said that 81 complaints were submitted in 2012 by consumers dissatisfied with the quality of the purchased products. The Agency last year performed two tests to establish the quality of butter and sour cream. The results showed that some of the producers use vegetal fats to make dairy products. According to experts, the use of vegetal fats in dairy products is inadmissible. If such fats are used, the product cannot be named butter or sour cream and the composition should be written exactly on the label. Vitalie Ciobanu, head of the Agriculture Ministry’s Zootechny Division, told Info-Prim Neo that 97% of the milk cows are owned by private individuals. According to the Agriculture Ministry, a Moldovan consumes annually about 170-180 liters of fresh milk and milk in dairy products. At world level, the Germans consume the largest volume of milk and dairy products - 446 liters per person. A Ukrainian drinks 212 liters of milk yearly.