February 10 2004, 14:02 APK-Inform

Import of meat to Ukraine in 2004 may increase - AgMin official

Import of meat to Ukraine in 2004 might increase because of a series of local factors, Ukraine's Deputy Agrarian Policy Minister Yuri Melnyk told reporters today.

Among these factors he named increase of meat prices in domestic market and absence of any obstacles for preferential imports of meat products through free economic zones and priority development territories (exemption from VAT and customs fees).

The products, which are predominantly supplied to Ukraine under this scheme, are poultry meat and variety meats. In 2003 the amount of these products imported to Ukraine was 100,000 tonnes, which is by 30,000 tonnes more than the year before.