Volodymyr Lytvyn: It is necessary to monitor Prices and Quality of Foodstuffs, taking into Account the Interests of Peasants and Processing Enterprises
On Wednesday, Volodymyr Lytvyn,
Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, visited "Kherson Bakery"
OJSC, observed the production and met the personnel of the enterprise.
V.Lytvyn stressed the necessity of monitoring quality and prices of foodstuffs, taking into account the interests of agrarians and processing enterprises. He deems it inadmissible to leave the millions of fellow citizens beyond the limit of physical survival, especially in Ukraine, "one of the most powerful agrarian States of the world".
The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine believes that high prices for bread can not be tolerated, as the harvest of 53,3 million ton had been gathered. The present-day purchase prices for grain at the rate of UAH 1200 1500 per ton can not be allowed either, as they imperil the sowing season. "The State shall interfere to settle the situation", - he stated.
To fix the adequate prices for bread, State resolutions and guarantees are required. It is conditioned by "the political will and concord of all the public authority branches".
According to V.Lytvyn, the State
shall strictly monitor the prices for the staple commodities, taking into
account the producers´ interests. He presented the system of State economic
market regulators to be developed and introduced:
targeted State compensations to the representatives of socially unprotected groups of population;
governmental purchase of agricultural raw products at the preferential prices;
assistance of processing enterprises, esp. bakeries, in the provision of low production prices.
As far as the prospects of bakery branch were concerned, the Head of the Parliament stated: "An enterprise can not develop and function efficiently, if production profitability totals 2 per cent. As the tariffs for energy resources, transportation costs and payment of taxes make an important constituent of prices for bread, the State shall provide favourable treatment of such enterprises, fixing reduced tariffs for gas". He also considers it inadmissible, when the enterprise works, manufactures and sells the production, having to pay for the previous periods at the new prices for energy resources.
V.Lytvyn stressed: "The State shall
responsibly regulate its policy regarding such large enterprises producing
social kinds of bread". The issue concerning gas price is crucial not
only for chemical and metallurgy industries, but also for bakery branch. He
believes that employees of such enterprises shall get decent salary and have a
possibility to support and develop the production.
The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada
of Ukraine also
focused on the necessity of supplying the bakers with raw materials, i.e.
grain. The enterprises shall receive grain from the State reserves at the
corresponding prices. "Otherwise, the underprivileged groups of populations
shall be subsidized to buy the bread at the real prices", - he stated.
V.Lytvyn believes that the State enterprises shall also be subsidized. He cited the neighboring region as an example, since the profitability of corresponding enterprises amounts to 5 per cent due to monthly donation of UAH 1 million from the local budget. "A unitary governmental policy shall be developed regarding this matter", - the Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine underscored.