MINSK, 1 December (BelTA) – Once Russia introduces the marking of dairy products in 2021, new niches may be opened for Belarusian dairy producers. Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Mikhail Myasnikovich made the relevant statement on the air of the TV channel Belarus One, BelTA has learned.
The official said: “The marking of dairy products is necessary. It is a good thing for Belarus, all things considered. The Belarusian milk-processing industry is top-notch. We don't have counterfeit products or products of dubious quality. This is why once control over the quality and safety of dairy products is increased in the common Eurasian space, I believe we will see additional niches because Belarusian dairy products are of rather high quality and sales of someone else's poor-quality products will not be allowed by the new marking procedures.”
There is another aspect to consider, Mikhail Myasnikovich noted. These identification marks may inflate prices even for affordable dairy products. The Russian side has promised it will identify a group of products, which will be marked but prices for which will not be changed. The additional costs will be covered by the retail industry and the processing industry.
Since it is impossible to separate commodity flows (cheese will be made only for export or only for the domestic market), it will be necessary to mark all the products. Producers will have to buy the necessary equipment and spend millions of U.S. dollars on it, Mikhail Myasnikovich noted. “This is why we've agreed and Russia has agreed to it: we are going to launch a pilot project, it will be finished in November, we will sum up the results in December in order to address possible concerns of the Eurasian Economic Commission and the general public,” he said. The working group that will address those concerns includes not only officials but dairy producers as well.
Speaking about strategic directions of advancement of Eurasian integration in the period till 2025, Mikhail Myasnikovich mentioned that a strategy had been drafted to address a number of previously standing concerns, first of all, project integration. “Apart from the matters that concern the regulation of domestic trade in merchandise, services, the financial market, we intend to transfer a lot to the project financing dimension,” he said. “Once we have Eurasian transnational corporations, we will need less administrative resources to bring the economies closer to each other because business interests will take care of that.”
