Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has returned the law on the regulation of milk purchasing prices to parliament with his proposals, according to the official presidential Web site.
The president finds unacceptable some provisions of this document.
In particular, the law submitted to the president for signing
foresees the including of milk in the list of objects of state price
regulation. According to the head of state, this means that the Agrarian
Fund should annually buy at least 20% of the annual domestic
consumption of milk, i.e. about two million tonnes, including dairy
products.
Yanukovych believes that given the enormous amount of the alleged
purchases, as well as a limited shelf-life of milk, intervention
purchases of these products through the Agrarian Exchange (as required
by the law of Ukraine on state support to the agriculture of Ukraine)
are impossible.
The president also does not support the norm of the law on setting
terms of payments for wholesale traders and retailers, processors,
purchasing organizations and individuals for milk, which is seven days
from the day when the produce is received.
“The implementation of the proposed norm could lead to a significant
deterioration in balance of payments of processing companies, as the
technological conditions of production of certain products (for
instance, cheese) require a certain time to obtain finished products,”
he said.
At present the term of settlements between trade and processing
enterprises, in particular, for delivered milk production is 25-45 days,
and in some cases – up to 60 days from the day the produce is received.
As reported, on June 7 the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law on the
regulation of milk prices. Public agricultural organizations have
criticized the document several times.
