Uncertainty with the export of Ukrainian grain, leading to a global food crisis and rising food prices, can be resolved by buying last year’s and this year’s crops from Ukraine for a total of $30-35 billion through a specially created fund.
This will contribute to the development of exports from the country and its internal processing in the agro-industrial complex, as well as provide the Ukrainian agricultural sector with working capital and the opportunity to continue working under the conditions of the military invasion of the Russian Federation, MP of Ukraine Dmytro Solomchuk (the Servant of the People faction) wrote on his Telegram channel on Wednesday.
“The easiest way, given the current situation, is to create the World Food Fund, collect $30-35 billion, and transfer it to Ukrainian farmers, buying last year’s and fresh products at world prices, minus logistics, on the terms of responsible storage,” he wrote.
“The world, in turn, thanks to this, will stabilize inflation, calm the beginnings of a food storm, will be motivated to organize comfortable exports, and Ukrainian farmers will receive funds for winter sowing, which will save the world in 2023, and the development of a processed industry to simplify logistics. And most importantly, the Russian Federation will stop manipulating food security,” the MP added.
As reported, on June 28, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a draft agreement with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) on the resumption of its office in the country, which will allow the organization, among other things, to purchase agricultural products from Ukrainian companies to carry out international humanitarian programs.
Since the stabilization of the foreign exchange market, the National Bank has bought $600 million, First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko said.
“The National Bank is now buying funds (from the foreign exchange market), has already bought $600 million. We can state that the panic in the foreign exchange market has passed,” she said at a meeting of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Kharkiv.
At the same time, she indicated that by the end of 2022 inflation is expected to stabilize and reach the target of 5%.
The Ministry of Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine is considering issuing licenses in the near future to import additional 50,000 tonnes of raw sugar, the ministry said on its website on Thursday.
“The cost of sugar produced from imported raw material is about UAH 20 per kilogram. Accordingly, after the import in the coming weeks, the price situation will level out and sugar will become more affordable for Ukrainians. Meanwhile, the parliament is considering the possibility of a temporary zeroing of duties on imports of white sugar to Ukraine, which will also contribute to the saturation of the domestic market with sugar,” the ministry’s press service said, citing Deputy Economy Minister Taras Vysotsky.
He said that in February-March, 40,000 tonnes of sugar were also imported under the established tariff quota with a zero duty rate in accordance with the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
According to the Economy Ministry, imports of additional raw sugar will provide the processing industries with a sufficient amount of raw materials, which will saturate the market and lead to a decrease in the retail price.
As reported, on April 5, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) launched an investigation into the grounds of anticompetitive concerted actions on the primary sugar market against the Astarta Group and Radekhiv Sugar LLC (Lviv region), which during September-November 2020, equally increased the wholesale selling prices for this product by an average of 48%.
