BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

27/06/2008

Minsk sees not reasons for Russia's anti-dumping probe

MINSK, June 27 (Itar-Tass) - The Belarussian government sees no reason for Russia's launching an anti-dumping probe into supplies of Belarussian milk powder.

"A wave if complaints from Russia came yesterday and the day before yesterday that Belarussians had flooded it with cheap milk," First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko told Belarussian lawmakers on Friday.

Two years ago, the price of milk powder was 1.65 to 1.85 dollars per kilogram; and at present, milk is supplied to Russia at 2.7 dollars per kilogram.

Semashko noted that in 2006, 100 percent of dehydrated milk produced in the republic was supplied to Russia.

"After we began to work through the Belarusian universal commodity exchange, it turned out that just 23 percent of produced milk powder were supplied to Russia in 2007," the first deputy prime minister said.

The rest of milk powder was exported to France, Japan, Poland and other countries. It was exported to those countries before, but through intermediaries.

Meanwhile, a source in the Russian government told Itar-Tass Moscow intended to start consultations with Belarus over the problem of supplies of milk powder at dumping prices. It has no plans as yet to impose restrictions on Belarussian imports, the Russian official said.

The theme might be discussed in the course of intergovernmental talks which will take place on Friday with the participation of the prime ministers of the two countries.

The official said Russia and Belarus have no customs borders, enjoying a free trade regime, but this "does not mean that Belarus may subsidize products in its territory and send it to neighboring states at dumping prices," PRIME-TASS quoted him as saying.

At present, Belarus is supplying dehydrated milk to Russia at such prices that make production and processing of natural milk unprofitable. It is explained by a number of programs implemented by the Belarussian government, under which production of meat and dairy products are subsidized in the republic. Russia intends to offer Belarus to analyze the situation together. "If they believe they need these programs, we'll have to talk about restrictions of supplies to the Russian market, " the Russian official said.

Under WTO norms, Russia cannot subsidize its farmers in the same way.

"We wish to show that we're concerned about the situation. We make a reservation about the possibility to restrict imports, but that's not what we're seeking," the source said.

First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov earlier said Russia might launch an anti-dumping investigation into milk powder imported from Belarus, because the Belarussian government was subsidizing up to 40 percent of its cost.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12818993&PageNum=0

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