March 11 2003, 14:45 UNIAN

Ukraine's government will regulate milk and meat prices

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for Agriculture Ivan Kyrylenko said the government had prepared and submitted to Parliament a bill about state regulation of purchasing prices for meat and milk. The aim of the move is to provide support for agrarians who are facing lots of financial problems due to drop in prices for livestock products and hard situation with winter crops this season.

He also said the Agrarian Party of Ukraine had prepared a bill to keep existing tax preferences for agricultural producers and to provide state subsidies for production of livestock products.

The current farmer support laws are to go out of effect in this year. Besides, the farmers will have to pay out debts before state and commercial creditors, which exacerbates their financial state, Kyrylenko said.