Rice price may drop

Rice price may start to drop during the next few weeks. Although this is an important product in Moldova, and the producing countries like Indonesia and China have reduced exports, there are no apparent reasons for the price to hit the 30 lei/kg mark, says Octavian Calmic, department head at the Trade & Economy Ministry (MEC), adding that the price declared at the customs by importers is just 6 lei/kg. “Importers will try to recover their losses and will likely raise the prices declared at the customs. However, they will have to pay customs duties at the extent of the declared price, and, taking into account that the commercial addition cannot be bigger than 20 percent, the market price will slightly drop”, said the MEC official. Octavian Calmic also informed the price of sugar has stabilized and doesn't exceed 12 lei/kg. During the weekend, most of the stores were selling sugar for 11- 11.50 lei/kg, while at an open-air market the price was 540-550 lei for a 50-kilo sack. No shortage of sugar has been reported in Chisinau or in any other place in the country. The price of vegetal oil remained unchanged. A 5-liter container of oil is now available at Chisinau's central market for 125-130 lei. Calmic forecasts that chicken prices will start to fall towards autumn, while pork will decrease by the end of the year. Yet, this is not the case of beef. It will be quite hard to restore the number of cattle, which were slaughtered in the wake of last summer's drought, because the production cycle takes more time than in the case of poultry or pigs. MEC authorized importers to bring in 2,500 tonnes of meat in the course of June, so, it is expected that meat prices will stabilize by the end of the month. The annual meat consumption in Moldova is 120,000 tonnes, as domestic production usually accounts for 100,000 tonnes of the total. Meat imports are taxed at a rate of 20 percent of the total value of the consignment plus 200 euros for each tonne and plus 20 percent in VAT. The Government has recently decided to include rice in the list of products for which the commercial addition is state-regulated after a couple of weeks ago its price rose from 19 to 30 lei.