Any shortages that may arise due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in foodstuffs and raw materials in general in the primary sector will be on the table at the meeting that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Minister of Rural Development and Food George Georgantas will have tomorrow, Monday.
"One issue that will be of concern to us is the global food crisis, I have called such a meeting with the leadership of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food for next Monday to ensure food security in our country," said Mr. Mitsotakis said last Friday, after the Summit, stressing that "it does not concern our country, but we must be prepared for such a crisis".
"There is no food risk for our country," sources at the Ministry of Rural Development and Food told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, noting that during the meeting they will examine the government's next steps to prevent any food risk.
The few shortages that occurred in sunflower oil do not affect households. From Ukraine, Greece imports about 30,000 tonnes out of a total of 120,000 tonnes of sunflower oil imports. An estimate by officials of the Food Crisis Committee of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food is that they can easily be replaced by imports from Argentina or other third countries.
The same applies to corn, as imports from Russia and Ukraine amount to about 500,000 tons. A quantity that was mainly destined for feed production and it is estimated that the gap could be filled by imports from Romania, Bulgaria, other European countries and South America.
Soft wheat imports from Ukraine and Russia amounted to 250,000 tonnes. Importers have turned to the markets of Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany and France, while imports from Canada (via Italy) have already started, with the disadvantage, of course, of high transport costs.
Two additional factors
The meeting between Mr. The meeting between Mr Mitsotakis and Mr Georgantas will also focus on two other issues.
The first concerns the increase in feed prices.
The government's intention is to allocate €40 million to support livestock farmers.
The government's intention is to allocate €40 million to support livestock farmers. The method of aid will be announced in the coming days by the minister responsible. According to the same sources, it is considered certain that this is the beginning of the support for farmers and that other support will follow, depending on the course of the budget.
A second equally important issue is the price of fertiliser, which has "skyrocketed" since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
As sources at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development told APE-MPA, "if the farmer does not apply fertilizer, he will not have the volume of production he has every year," adding that "less production means a bigger food problem, as we will be more dependent on imports for the next period."
Finally, with regard to imports from South America, Canada and generally non-EU countries, what worries not only the government, but also Brussels, is that the same quality standards as those set by Europe are not met.
Meanwhile, according to APE, measures to avoid phenomena of obscenity and product shortages were taken last week by the Ministry of Rural Development and Food. An amendment introduced to a finance ministry bill called for mandatory stock registration on a range of agricultural and food products.
Obligated companies operating in the chain of production, import, marketing, sale, brokerage, handling, distribution and storage of agricultural products and foodstuffs in the Greek Territory will be required to submit data on stocks in:
- raw materials for the production of fertilizers,
- fertilizers,
- animal feed,
- raw cereals of all kinds and in particular wheat or meslin, rye, barley, oats, corn, edible buckwheat,
- flours, in particular wheat or meslin flour and cereal flours, (f) sunflower, and
- vegetable oils other than olive oil, in particular sunflower oil, palm oil and maize oil.
Source: in.gr
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