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Ukrainian government has no plans to support the greenhouse sector
The Ukrainian authorities have still not announced any plans to subsidize the greenhouse industry or compensate an increase in gas or electricity rates, said Mr. Yevgeniy Chernyshenko, President of Association of Greenhouses of Ukraine, during an interview to Fruit-Inform.
«Last week we met with Mr. Andriy Dikun, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, and told about our problems. In his turn, he promised to examine them and take diligent efforts as an authority representative. However, we can already say that there will be no subsidies or compensations for gas or electricity in the nearest time».
Mr. Chernyshenko also pointed out that the Ukrainian greenhouse sector representatives had been facing more and more problems. He expected almost no new protected-ground vegetable growing projects to be launched in Ukraine in the following season. Furthermore, some small greenhouse farms will simply abandon the market next year.
«We can say that the only positive moment in the situation is the fact that the gas problem has emerged in the summer period, when the gas consumption is minimal in greenhouses», commented Mr. Chernyshenko. «It is very difficult to forecast any developments in the Ukrainian greenhouse industry under those conditions. Everything depends on new authorities, the results of negotiations with Russia and some other things, inclusive of electricity rates».
The expert also noted that the unstable situation with gas supply to Ukraine and higher gas rates had forced Ukrainian greenhouse growers to think about switching over to coal heating.
«For the present, there are about 15% of small greenhouse farms that have already switched over to coal heating with some other small growers also planning to forgo gas», said Mr. Chernyshenko. «Of course, in case of small farms, coal heating is more profitable than gas one».
However, the expert pointed out that large greenhouse farms have still not considered switching over to coal heating. It's not about coal heating to be less environmentally friendly that gas one. The problem is that reconstruction of large greenhouses will involve solid investments.
It should also be noted that Naftogaz Ukrainy does not plan to shut off or limit gas supply to industrial enterprises despite the gas supply limitation procedures implemented by Russia, according to Mr. Andrey Kobolev, CEO of the company. At the same time, he said that Naftogaz and Ukrainian government would work on reducing gas consumption in the country.