Milk producers are asking to change the rules of the transition to EVC

The market participants, interviewed by TASS, welcome the transition from paper to electronic certificates for raw materials, but note a number of difficulties, including Internet access in remote villages.

However, the EVC for finished products is, in their opinion, redundant, and expenses incurred by the factories for the increase of staff, their training and the purchase of equipment, can lead to increased costs and prices.

Since 1 January 2018 in the Russian Federation there will be introduced a mandatory veterinary certification of a wide range of controlled products of animal origin, including dairy products. It will be implemented in the state information system "Mercury".

Any movement of a batch of finished products will be possible only under condition of registration of veterinary certification. In TASS material you will learn how the Russian regions are ready to the new format of certification, how the transition threatens to producers and what changes will be obvious for customers.

Successful experience

After introducing EVC any movement of a batch of products will be possible only under condition of registration of the electronic document. One of the advantages of the ability to track products from farm to fork is the fight against falsification of milk. According to Rospotrebnadzor, its share in Russia is around 6-8%.

Meanwhile, as it was reported by Executive Director of the Russian Union of dairy industry enterprises Lyudmila Manitskaya to TASS, on the market this percentage may be significantly higher. "We hope that the program of EVC and traceability will completely solve this problem. There will be everything: where the raw material came from, what we used to produce specific products - how much milk, how many other components," she said.

The Russian regions have successful experience: in the agricultural holding "Ashatli" (leader in the production of raw milk in Perm region) it was reported to TASS that EVC is already implemented and "it has not caused any problems at the enterprise". The other major dairy producer of the Kama region – butter factory "Nytvenskiy"also did not feel the difficulties.

Manitskaya noted that enterprises of the industry are preparing for the introduction of EVC, but some of them still hope for a postponement.

Earlier it was reported that the producers of dairy products such as Danone, are talking about the need for the postponement of its introduction for raw milk due to the fact that dairy plants are not prepared to implement it until 2022-2023 for the finished, processed dairy products.

The difficulties of transition

The majority of interviewed by TASS market participants support the transition from paper veterinary certification of raw milk to electronic one, but consider it premature.

Thus, Vice-President of group of companies Danone on corporate relations in Russia and the CIS Marina Balabanova has declared to journalists that she considers it necessary to postpone the introduction of electronic certification at least for a year. And at Lyubinskiy canned milk plant in Omsk region they add that producers of dairy products of the region are considering the possibility of filing an application to the Ministry of agriculture with a request to shift the timing.

As for finished products, according to Balabanova, this measure is in principle superfluous. "We see no positive points for its introduction. Such procedures do not exist anywhere in the world," she said.

A similar view was expressed by Deputy General Director of Pskovskiy city dairy plant Nadezhda Petrova. "We, milk processors, need not just a postponement of the introduction of such certificates (for the finished product – TASS remark), but a cancellation. We should not run ahead of the rest", she said.

In her opinion, one should focus on the nearly finished stage - EVC for incoming product, 90% of suppliers of raw materials of the plant are in this system.

"Our experts approve electronic veterinary certification of farms - suppliers. We may at any time block receiving products from the farm if there is a sudden outbreak of some disease. We have a computer for receiving products, and we monitor this in real time. I think at this stage we need to stop," she said.

Access problems

In the Committee of state veterinary control of Nizhny Novgorod region, where the transition to EVC is almost completed, they think it to be premature: there are farms in remote rural areas that have no Internet access. The problem is spoken about in Novosibirsk region, which, according to the regional Department of the Rosselkhoznadzor, is among five constituent entities of the Russian Federation, where the largest number of veterinary certificates are issued in electronic form.

According to acting Minister of agriculture of the region Evgeny Leshchenko, the issue of coverage will be resolved gradually, however, in his opinion, there is no need to postpone.

"The Internet coverage in the region is weak, which causes some problems. This is a weak link, but gradually it will be overcome", - he told to TASS.

As evidence of the unreadiness of the dairy industry to such changes one brings unregulated work of the system "Mercury", which, according to Balabanova, is "fault-prone" and "not technically perfect". According to estimates of the General Director of Krasnodar "Firm "Calorie" Tatiana Sadovaya, it won’t be possible to complete the testing of "Mercury" by January 1.

As said in the Committee of the state veterinary control of Nizhny Novgorod region, producers also fear that the system will jeopardize commercial secrets of enterprises.

"In relation to "Mercury" the structure of open data contained in the system is not set. As the information system positioned by the Rosselkhoznadzor, within it any user will be able to trace the path of the controlled product "from cow to consumer". That is, any person can obtain information about the volume of trade, about suppliers and customers of one or the other business entity", - said the interlocutor of the TASS.

The price for the consumer

According to experts, with the introduction of the EVC the expenses of enterprises may increase - it will be necessary to hire additional specialists, to conduct their training and to buy more powerful computer equipment.

At the International dairy week, held in June in Uglich, the producers, in their resolution also noted that EVC of finished products will require additional investment in hardware of warehouse digital technologies. In their opinion, the amount of all costs could put domestic producers in unequal competitive conditions with the manufacturers of the Eurasian economic community.

As noted by the representative of Danone, if EVC for finished products is introduced, its implementation may require up to 1.5 billion rubles, and the cost of production of a kilogram of products may increase on average by 3.6 ruble.

Manitskaya also did not exclude that the growth in prices is possible, but, in her opinion, the purchaser will vote with ruble and will opt for affordable and quality products. "Prices will not grow higher than purchasing power. There is a maximal level at which the consumer is willing to buy milk," she said.

Moreover, among the Russian producers, there are examples of the introduction of EVC, which in the end did not affect the value of the goods. At the butter factory "Nytvenskiy" and in the agricultural holding "Ashatli" it was said to the correspondent of TASS that certification had no impact on the price increase, they remained at the same level.

Read full article in Russian on DairyNews.ru