Baltic Export, Baltic States – CIS, Foodstuff, Legislation, Lithuania, Markets and Companies

At a press conference held in the conference hall of news agency ELTA on Tuesday, Chair of the Chamber of Agriculture Andriejus Stancikas said that both meat and dairy and vegetable producers will be negatively affected by the embargo introduced by Russia, and not necessarily only those producers who used to import their production to the Russian market.

"As the blockade is very wide this time, it includes not only Lithuania, but also entire European Union, US and Canada, it will be difficult to redirect and export production to West. This market will be flooded with local production, both those who used to import their production there or who will try to do it will face difficulties," said Stancikas.

Farmers say they support the idea of reduction of VAT rate; however, according to them, this compensation should be paid to the suppliers of raw materials.

"It is necessary to observe that that this exemption would not become somebody's profit," said Stancikas.

According to President of the Board of the Lithuanian Association of Agricultural Cooperatives Jurate Dovydeniene, the embargo will hit dairy farms the most; 33% of Lithuanian farmers will face a problem of where to sell the produced milk.

Dovydiene revealed that in the middle of the month company Pieno Zvaigzdes had terminated contracts with dairy cooperatives. To her unofficial knowledge, the company has terminated contracts with farmers in neighbouring Latvia and Estonia as well, and at present it buys in milk only from farmers who have direct contracts with the company.

According to Dovydiene, some of dairy processing companies have reduced milk buying-in prices; they have declined by more than 30%, and today the farmer is paid only LTL 0,50 (EUR 0,14) per litre of milk.