The National Association of Agricultural Producers UniAgroProtect expresses its concern about the delay in introducing customs duties to protect the home market from the import of poultry and dairy products from Ukraine. The Association’s head Alexandru Slusari issued a press statement saying that it has been more than a month since the given bill was drafted, but no actions are taken, IPN reports.
“We warn that the introduction of special protection customs duties is an absolutely legal measure that meets the norms of the World Trade Organization and the provisions of the CIS Free Trade Agreement. This measures can be applied when imports from a country increases by over 15% compared with a similar period or there is an imminent risk of such an increase,” stated Alexandru Slusari.
After Russia imposed a ban on the import of agrifood products from Ukraine, the Ukrainian producers started to more actively enter the Moldovan market. According to Alexandru Slusari, several dozen Ukrainian companies were recently accredited and these already supply large quantities of meat and milk to Moldova.
“As a result of discussions with national poultry and milk processing companies, we realized that these already face problems. Owing to the low-cost energy resources and the preferential fiscal regime for farmers, the products imported from Ukraine are cheaper than the national ones. We risk losing soon a number of poultry farms and dairy factories. About 6,000 persons work in the poultry breeding sector, while the milk processing companies employ approximately 15,000 people. So, more than 20,000 people could remain without a job,” said the head of UniAgroProtect.
Alexandru Slusari called on the Moldovan ministers to think about the national producers first when they take particular decisions.
