Georgia: Georgia’s Government made a decision in which they decided that their administration will charge an import fee for flour and that too will be an additional fee, which is 50 GEL per ton, or a total of 250 GEL fee.
After the end of the government session, Georgia Deputy Minister of Environment and Agriculture, Tengiz Nasaridze, explained the government’s decision to promote the realization of local wheat.
“Given the ongoing processes in the world market, a non-standard situation is created regarding wheat price formation and general logistics.
In this regard, a few months ago, a decision was made to balance the situation regarding the increase in flour imports with an additional charge of 200 GEL imposed on flour imports. However, during these months, it has been discovered that a growing trend still characterizes flour imports.
This is due to over and over again volatile price formation, with the excess crop that exists in the world. In view of this, we have decided to impose an additional 50 GEL per tonne for importing flour, that is 250 GEL in total, – said Tengiz Nasaridze.
As the Deputy Minister noted, given this year’s nature and climatic conditions, this year’s wheat crop is of low quality.
“In addition to the above, the government has decided to impose an additional charge of 100 GEL on the import of wheat and also on the kato, which is produced as a result of wheat processing.
It’s noteworthy that, up to now, regulations have not been applied to Cato; the decision made will greatly assist local wheat producers in achieving the wheat produced at a cost to enable them to stay in business and contribute to the country’s economy, which has been characterized by growing trends so far.
“It should be noted that this decision to increase the price of flour import will not affect the price of bread; there is no risk of bread rising prices. The decision will contribute to the realization of local wheat,” said the Deputy Minister of Environment and Agriculture.
Tengiz Nasaridze noted that the Ministry is constantly communicating with wheat producers, the processing sector and field representatives.
Therefore, these decisions were led by active meetings, joint development of a support package and, if necessary, a temporary mechanism. Given the current situation in the market, these decisions will be corrected afterwards.
