Sergey Lisovsky proposed to "resume the fight against Soyuzmoloko"

Источник: The DairyNews
Representative of the Federation Council Sergey Lisovsky spoke at the round table meeting held on February 17 in the State Duma, the topic of which was the introduction of labeling of the dairy industry. As it turned out, in the broadcast in the telegram channel, The DairyNews mistakenly called Senator a person whose powers in the Federation Council were terminated in the autumn of 2020. In the list of participants of the round table meeting, Lisovsky was announced as a member of the Council on Agriculture and Environmental Management under the Federation Council. However, not everything is so simple.

‘At one time, Soyuzmoloko intimidated us with the influence of Mercury, that it will be the reason of billions of dollars losses. The leaflets were distributed. They said that everything would be bad - after that, I applied to the Ministry of Justice to recognize Soyuzmoloko as a foreign agency. Then everyone calmed down. The main payers of Soyuzmoloko are foreign companies. This is a remark. It seems it is necessary to continue dealing with them,’ said Lisovsky. Indeed, such proposals were voiced by the ex-senator in 2017, this was allegedly due to the unwillingness of the unions to support the ban on the supply of bone meal to the Russian Federation.

Actively supporting electronic veterinary certification, Sergey Lisovsky just a year and a half ago argued against the introduction of labeling of dairy products. In July, he said that the labeling will take a monetary amount equal to the entire state support of the agro-industrial complex.

In the publication of the "Parliamentary Newspaper", he was of the opinion that it is necessary to introduce electronic veterinary certification.

‘The digital food certification system will help solve the problem of falsified goods in three to five years. At the same time, the proposed electronic labeling does not provide protection against falsification and only increases the cost of products,’ the ex-senator said. This is the same excise stamp. The excise stamp does not indicate where the goods are produced. It is impossible to forge a QR code, but it is possible with electronic labeling. If electronic certification is free, digital labeling should be paid for - 50 kopecks per item of product. Taking into account the additional equipment for this - 75 kopecks. It, in fact, does not provide protection and traceability of the product, but increases the cost. Thus, about 300 billion rubles a year will be withdrawn fr om the buyer. And more than half of this amount will go to private individuals who are not related to agriculture — the founders of the Center for the Advanced Technologies Development,’ Lisovsky concluded.

But the year 2020 has come, the powers in the upper house of parliament have ended and the point of view of Sergey Lisovsky has changed dramatically. In December 2020, we see his statements that the labeling will be implemented - the question is on what terms.

By the way, we have not found an official in the Council on Agriculture at the Federation Council. The full list can be found here. 

Now the ex-senator appeals to the research of the Ministry of Finance, which states that the dairy industry will not only not lose fr om labeling, but will also gain - as much as more than 52 billion rubles due to the displacement of falsified products.

‘The study was conducted for several groups of food products using the balance method – that is, the expenses and income of all participants in the turnover, including the wholesale and retail level. In all groups, the balance is positive: this means that with the introduction of labeling and the absence of price growth on the horizon of six years, both the state and business are in the black. At the same time, the study did not take into account possible measures of state support,’ said Inna Rykova, Head of the Center for Industrial Economics of the Scientific and research financial Institute of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. Thus, the balance for the mineral water industry is +12.7 billion rubles, milk and cream – 21.9 billion, butter, ghee, etc. – 65.1 billion rubles, cheeses, cheese products and cottage cheese – 41.8 billion rubles, ice cream -1.7 billion rubles. 

The data published in mass media by the Center for Industrial Economics on the mass illegal turnover in dairy products have not yet raised an open discussion of the methodology for identifying the share of falsified products. Although back in December 2020, when the Scientific and research financial Institute conducted an online presentation of the study, it was assumed that the data would be available to everyone.

And many have already forgotten that at the beginning of 2020, the Scientific and research financial Institute presented a study according to which the agricultural industry will lose trillions of rubles due to implementation. The Center for Industrial Economics also noted that no country in the world has analogues of such a labeling system that is being introduced in Russia.

Already in July, the Center disavowed this study, when industry unions began to operate on data for support at the highest level. ‘The use of materials of the Scientific and research financial Institute of the Ministry of Finance to make decisions on the introduction of mandatory labeling by means of identification in the EAEU seems incorrect, as methodological tools and model calculations should reflect the current state and prospects of development of specific branches of the economy,’ the letter reads.

As explained in the Institute, the calculations of the Scientific and research financial Institute used by Soyuzmoloko were preliminary scientific hypotheses, subject to the total introduction of labeling on all consumer goods, and therefore cannot be used for calculations in a particular industry.

And at the round table meeting on February 17, Sergey Lisovsky said: ‘The labeling complements the Mercury system. There is a study of the Ministry of Finance. They spent more than 7 months researching the process and wh ere there are no billions on the costs of dairy industry. There is a result for each type of product. We will provide research to everyone.’

The story of the change of opinion by ex-Senator Sergei Lisovsky and the structure of the Ministry of Finance is prosaic, but it smells bad. The lack of clear explanations - wh ere did the incomprehensible figures in 30-40% of falsification in the dairy industry come from, suggests two thoughts. First, what did the supervisory authorities of the Russian Federation do for 30 years, if we still have a supposedly high share of "problematic products"? The second is that there is a specific interest in the current situation and it is well known to everyone.

30.01.2024
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