Mitsotaki meeting with Georgantas for the food security of the country

Any shortages that may arise, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in food and generally raw materials in the primary sector will be on the table of Maximos Palace at the meeting tomorrow Monday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Minister of Rural Development and Food George Georgantas.

“One issue that will concern us is the global food crisis, I have convened such a meeting with the leadership of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food for next Monday to ensure food security in our country,” said Mr. Mitsotakis last Friday. , after the conclusion of the Summit, emphasizing that “it does not concern our country, but we must be prepared for such a crisis”.

“There is no food hazard for our country,” sources from the Ministry of Rural Development and Food told the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, noting that during the meeting they will examine the government’s next steps to prevent any food hazard.

The few deficiencies that occurred in sunflower oil do not affect households. Greece imports about 30,000 tons from Ukraine out of a total of 120,000 tons of sunflower oil imports (25%). An estimate of officials of the Food Crisis Committee of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food is that they can easily be replaced by imports from Argentina or from other third countries.

The same goes for corn, as imports from Russia and Ukraine amount to about 500,000 tonnes. Quantity, which was mainly focused on feed production and according to estimates the gap could be filled by imports from Romania, Bulgaria, other European countries, but also South America.

The imports of soft wheat from Ukraine and Russia reached 250,000 tons. Importers have entered the markets of Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany and France, while imports from Canada (via Italy) have already started with the disadvantage, of course, of the high transport costs.

Two additional factors

The meeting between Mr. Mitsotakis and Mr. Georgantas will also focus on two more issues.

The first concerns the increase in feed prices.

The government intends to allocate 40m euros to support farmers. The method of aid will be announced in the coming days by the competent minister. According to the same sources, it is considered certain that this is the beginning of the support of farmers and that another support will follow, depending on the course of the budget.

The second equally important issue is the price of fertilizers, which has “skyrocketed” since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

As sources in the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure stated in the APE-MPE “if the farmer does not throw fertilizers he will not have the volume of production he has every year” adding that “lower production means bigger food problem, as we will depend more on imports for the next period”.

Finally, with regard to imports from South America, Canada and countries outside the EU in general, what worries not only the government, but also Brussels, is that the same quality standards as those set by Europe are not met.

“Stop” in profiteering phenomena

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Rural Development and Food took measures last week to avoid profiteering and product shortages. An amendment introduced in a bill of the Ministry of Finance, requested the mandatory recording of stocks in a number of agricultural products and food.

Companies that are active in the chain of production, import, marketing, sale, brokerage, distribution, distribution and storage of agricultural products and food in the Greek Territory are required to submit data for stocks to:

– raw materials for the production of fertilizers,

– fertilizers,

– pet food,

– raw cereals of all kinds, in particular wheat or rye, rye, barley, oats, maize, edible buckwheat,

– flour and in particular wheat or rye flour and cereal flour, (f) sunflower, and

vegetable oils, other than olive oil, in particular sunflower oil (sunflower oil), palm oil and maize.

Source: AMPE