Agriculture ministry willing to keep helping foreign companies working in agriculture
MOSCOW. Dec 2 (Interfax) - The Russian Agriculture Ministry is willing to keep providing government support not just to Russian companies but also to foreign companies working on the Russian market, including the dairy market, Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov said.
In a recent meeting in Omsk, Fyodorov expressed indignation about multinational companies working on the Russian dairy market "taking the cream" from Russian companies, "buying milk cheaply," replacing a large share of milk fat with vegetable fat.
In response Danone accused the minister of harming the company's business reputation, announcing that it does not use vegetable fat in its products. The National Union of Dairy Producers asked Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to step in.
"The Agriculture Ministry does not just welcome the fact that multinational companies invest in the dairy industry, but also offer government support on a par with Russian agribusiness, including financial aid," Fyodorov told Interfax after meeting with Valery Koreshkov, the EurAsEC minister of technical regulation, on Tuesday
Among other things, the safety of milk and dairy production was discussed at this meeting.
The minister said examples of active work to build modern dairy farms in Russia are being shown by investors from Germany and Singapore. "And I regularly respond to all requests from representatives of domestic and foreign companies, I personally meet them and answer their questions on government policy in agriculture."
Asked how he sees the development of the industry amid the criticism from multinational companies, Fyodorov said "Russia has more and more examples where progressive changes in the meat and dairy industry are provided by the activities of major vertically integrated dairy holdings, investing in modern dairy farms."
"We hope for wider participation of multinational companies in this high potential area of development," he added.
The Agriculture Ministry and regional authorities are concerned by the buying up of dairy processing companies and their subsequent closure. "Alas, there are many examples of this," the minister said.