Milk with oil aroma

DETAILS

Just a few days ago Dmitry Medvedev instructed the Rosselkhoznadzor to lift sectoral restrictions on the supply of Belarusian dairy products and impose restrictions on enterprises that could not confirm the safety of their products. The order was given following the meeting of the EAEU intergovernmental Council in Yerevan.

"We agreed that all the issues that we have about milk we will solve for each enterprise <...> That is, we are moving away from sectoral solutions, but they are being replaced by solutions at the company level. For each such company we will do a thorough analysis", - said the Prime Minister.

We will remind that on June 6 last year the Rosselkhoznadzor imposed a ban on the supply of a number of dairy products from Belarus. The ban referred to raw milk, including consumer packaging of more than 2.5 liters: pasteurized and ultra-pasteurized milk and cream, sterilized milk and cream in bulk, whey, milk and whey powder, whey and milk protein concentrate.

Representatives of the EEC immediately noted then that the restrictions violate the agreements within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). The market reaction to the decision of the service was ambiguous, including a sharp drop in prices for raw milk in the winter of 2018 in light of the situation. At the end of December last year, the Rosselkhoznadzor allowed the supply of consumer dairy products from Belarus to 31 enterprises. In February this year, the supply of dairy products in bulk was allowed to eight enterprises of Belarus.

One way or another, deliveries to individual enterprises are periodically opened or closed. According to the representative of the Rosselkhoznadzor Yulia Milano, currently about 300 Belarusian enterprises have the right to export dairy products to Russia. There are still full restrictions on the supply of products for 29 enterprises. As reported by Julia Milano, the list of plants and types of limited to the supply of products of these enterprises will be published later.

A BARGAINING CHIP?

In April, Head of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko ordered to stop the transit of Russian oil through the Druzhba oil pipeline. During the meeting with the economic block of the government of the Republic of Belarus, Lukashenko has compared the actions of the “Russian partners” at the close of the market for Belarusian suppliers with economic sanctions from the West.

“Recently, I hear and read information every day that our main trading partner (they like to call themselves partners) is imposing more and more sanctions against Belarus, — Lukashenko said. — They themselves are under sanctions and condemn it, and I absolutely support them here. But at the same time, they are fighting against their closest allies with similar weapon. They closed one company, then another. Then they did not like either carrots, or lettuce, or cucumbers. They might have a suspicion that we deliver something not from somewhere else. And every day there is a closing of our enterprises. They are closing the [Russian] market for us", BELTA quoted him as saying.

Indeed, the beginning of spring was marked by a series of bans on the supply of agricultural products (including vegetables and milk) from Belarus to Russia.

First, from Minsk there were made some statements about the increase in the tariff for oil transportation through the territory of Belarus up to 23%. Meanwhile, according to some estimates 25-30% of Russian oil is exported through Belarus.

“If you need to repair oil pipelines and oil product pipelines that go through Belarus for repair, repair them. Because the good that we do for the Russian Federation, it constantly turns out into evil for us. They have already become insolent to such an extent that they begin to twist our hands", Lukashenko said.

Immediately after that, Deputy Prime Minister of the Belarusian government Igor Petrishenko told reporters that repair work on oil pipelines that pass through the Belarusian territory, for environmental reasons, cannot be performed without blocking. It also became known that Belarus intends to make major repair of five sections of the Druzhba oil pipeline: “the Pipes are in the ground, 80% of the pipes were installed by our grandfathers. Imagine that metal has been lying in the ground for more than 50 years. Naturally, it requires repair and maintenance", - said the experts of the Republic of Belarus.

Meanwhile, “Transneft” stated that the defects found in the oil pipelines in Belarus do not require a stop of pumping for their elimination, and “Transneft” is ready to provide assistance in solving any problems.

Accusations against Russian oil were various - up to low quality, which damaged the plant in Poland, where oil was supplied. In this regard, the full transit was stopped on April 30.

However, on May 5 the Belarusian party announced the receipt of high-quality Russian oil. And on May 6, the Rosselkhoznadzor published a report on mitigation measures against Belarusian dairy producers. Meanwhile, the Rosselkhoznadzor continues to report the import of illegal fruits and vegetables from Belarus. It seems, there are enough domestic vegetables in Russia?

CONSEQUENCES

A year ago, experts noted that the ban on the supply of raw milk from Belarus to Russia in the long term is negative. After extreme price drops at the beginning of last year, when the ban of the Rosselkhoznadzor gave a small impetus to the growth of purchase prices, today we have an open market of the Russian Federation and the dairy industry of Belarus ready for diversification, armed with knowledge.

According to the Ministry of agriculture and food of Belarus, the share of Russia in dairy exports of Belarusian enterprises has significantly decreased over the past three years - from more than 96% in 2015 to 77% in 2018.

It is not yet known how the Rosselkhoznadzor will deal with each of the Belarusian enterprises separately. It is assumed that there will be less “gray" schemes in the supply of milk, but in general it is hardly possible that something will seriously change in the near future. If Belarusian enterprises decide to increase milk supplies to Russia , this will affect prices, but now, as representatives of the dairy industry of Belarus note in an interview with The DairyNews, it is more profitable for plants to supply to other countries than to cooperate with the Russian market in the conditions of unpredictability.

So far, only one thing is clear - the dairy industry, as well as the whole food industry continues to be a bargaining chip for the Russian authorities, and for the Supervisory authorities (apparently) they are effective levers of force in the right sector.

While the material was being made.

It became known that the Rosselkhoznadzor prohibits the supply of raw milk to 37 enterprises :)