Dairy processors can't get through to the Ministry of Agriculture

The Ministry of Agriculture insists that the introduced norm on payment of subsidies on the basis of the realized volume is expedient. The main argument of the Ministry of Agriculture is that this measure would eliminate the possibility of business entities embezzling the actual volume of production. Processors are relentless in their arguments, reports World of NAN, referring to "Atameken".

Interestingly, the Ministry admits that since the introduction of state support, i.e. since 2014, there have been no revealed facts about the falsification of production of dairy products by businesses.

As for the problem of shortage of raw materials in the off-season, to solve this problem, the Ministry of Agriculture promises dairy farmers to continue to work on subsidizing investments for the construction of dairy farms, as well as to make proposals to the local executive bodies to use part of the funds allocated to SPK to create stabilization funds of socially important food products on the ground under the revolving scheme.

But, according to Vladimir Kozhevnikov, head of the Dairy Union, the Ministry of Agriculture did not take into account the fact that milk processing enterprises depend on the seasonality of milk production. The available volumes of marketable milk do not provide year-round supply of dairy plants. It is important for processors to have funds in the season to purchase raw materials and provide Kazakhstan people with quality and affordable dairy products.

"Processors need subsidies in summer to buy raw milk and produce products. Prices for raw materials due to external factors are constantly rising. For instance, for the last 2 years the cost of raw milk increased by 61% - from 126.9 tenge per kg to 204.2 tenge per kg, respectively, the prime cost of butter increased by 45.5%," Vladimir Kozhevnikov said.

Calculations of the entrepreneur using practical example showed that 22 kg of raw milk is needed to produce 1 kg of butter. Taking into account the cost of milk, only raw milk production cost is about 4 thousand tenge and that's without taking into account other expenses of enterprises and profitability.

Dairy producers proclaiming that the introduction of new approaches to subsidize processing by the Ministry of Agriculture will seriously worsen the situation in the industry, reduce their competitiveness, deprive them of the opportunity to buy raw milk in the summer period and lead to higher prices for products, but the businessmen remain unheard.

Смотрите больше интересных агроновостей Казахстана на нашем канале telegram, узнавайте о важных событиях в facebook и подписывайтесь на youtube канал и instagram.