September 25 2006, 10:29

Greenhouse owners ask not to change tax policy in Ukraine

The delegates of the second National meeting of greenhouse owners of Ukraine (held on September 22nd 2006 in village Kalinovka, Kyiv oblast) asked the government to make no changes to the order of VAT assessment and payment. According to information stated by the participants, starting from January the 1st 2007 greenhouse farms will have to switch to the general tax system. It will make the work of the greenhouse complexes unprofitable. The present tax environment, according to the assessment of the Association of the greenhouse farms in Ukraine, let the farms invest around 45 mln. UAH to reconstruction activities in 2006. And, 12 mln. UAH will be saved on payments to the Pension Fund and to the Social Insurance Fund.

Still, the owners of the greenhouses are worried about gas price growth most of all as it is the main element of the production cost for greenhouse commodity. In 2006 the greenhouse managers will have to pay 140 mln. UAH more than a year ago. To reduce the share of gas cost in the production cost structure, the owners of the greenhouses undertake reconstruction, in particular they install new boilers, optimize heating systems.

In total, according to evaluations of the Association of the greenhouse farms in Ukraine, the production expenses for 1 ha of vegetables will increase 350-400 thousands UAH in 2007 because of repeal of tax benefits and gas price increase.

Around 100 greenhouse complexes with glass greenhouses are functioning now in Ukraine. The total acreage of glass greenhouses is nearly 650 ha. Besides, there are around 2000 ha of film greenhouses in Ukraine.

Taking into consideration the special importance of greenhouse branch to Ukrainian agricultural sector, the section dedicated to the problems in this sector was included to the program of the conference "Fruits and Vegetables of Ukraine 2006. Open market" to be held in December 2006.