Launch of digital labeling of milk may be delayed
The technical readiness of the project to track the movement of products from the raw material producer to retailers leaves much to be desired, said Artem Belov, General Director of the National Union of milk producers (Soyuzmoloko). So, speaking at the exhibition "AgroFarm-2020", he said that he managed to get acquainted with "digital monitoring" during a recent visit to the agricultural department where the technical aspects of the project were discussed by the curators of the Ministry of industry and trade and the developers of the Center of advanced technologies development (CATD). According to Belov, the Russian Federation is not ready for labeling.
- Unfortunately, the technical readiness of the project is at a very low level. And in this sense, I probably won't go against the truth if I say that this system may not work this year in the experiment. The application of codes and their readability raise a lot of questions. It is unknown whether it will be launched soon, said Artem Belov, General Director of "Soyuzmoloko".
Thus, following the January decision to extend the experiment on the introduction of labeling in the dairy market since February 29 to May 31, 2020, the launch of the new system may be postponed to a later date.
The pilot project for the implementation of labeling started on July 15, 2019 and was supposed to be completed at the end of February this year. According to the official website of "Honest mark", more than 400 companies now participate in it. They put a special code that serves as a means of identification on each item of product. Thus, participants in the turnover send information to the system about the transfer of ownership of the product. The experiment is organized by the CATD, which is related to USM Holdings, State Corporation “Rostech” and “Elvis-Plus group”.
“Soyuzmoloko” has been opposed to innovations since last summer, considering them impractical. It refused to participate in the "pilot". Belov calls "Honest mark" the most expensive regulatory measure in the history of the industry. According to the estimates of the organization headed by him, the total amount of capital expenditures for the purchase of equipment will be about 25 billion rubles, and the cost of codes will exceed 20 billion rubles, which means that the result is at least 45 billion rubles. The introduction of labeling will affect products with a short shelf life, which will lead to difficulties for suppliers working with retail chains. Belov assumed that the cost of goods in this category will grow by 2-3%, and predicted a rise in price in the segments of cottage cheese and whole milk.
In this regard, “Soyuzmoloko” expects that the consequences of "coding" will affect all categories of farms in the dairy industry. In particular, large companies will face a decline in profitability and the curtailment of investment projects, the refusal to replace old equipment, and therefore the lack of growth in production, which will cause difficulties in creating new jobs. But small and medium-sized businesses will suffer the most from innovations.
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