Fat and Oil Union sent a letter to the director of the Department of Food and Processing Industry of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Evgeny Akhpashev. The Union in the letter spoke against plans to establish quotas on the import of palm oil to Russia.
The initiative to establish quotas for the import of palm oil belongs to the Ministry of Agriculture. The department is concerned about the growing volumes of import of this product. According to the Federal Customs Service, imports of palm oil and its fractions in the first two months of 2018 increased by 36.7% compared to the same period in 2017 and reached 170 thousand tons. As Deputy Agriculture Minister Evgeny Nepoklonov noted, this makes "uncompetitive production of bona fide producers".
Fat and Oil Union believes that the establishment of quotas is inexpedient and harmful for the market of oil and fat products. This is due to the fact that milk-containing products, in which vegetable fats can replace up to 50% of milk fat, have a steady demand. Establishment of quotas may cause a decrease in the production of fats, margarines and milk fat substitutes based on palm oil, as well as cheese products and spreads. As a result, these products will have to be imported from the CIS countries. Also, the Fat and Oil Union believes that a reduction in the production of milk products will reduce the demand for raw milk, which is also the raw material for this category of dairy products. The price of milk, respectively, may fall.
Source: agro.ru.
