In terms of constant increasing of the demand for wheat in Kyrgyzstan, the country reduces the planted areas of grains almost every year, the Committee of flour millers under the Entrepreneurs Union of the Kyrgyz Republic declared.
In 2015 the planted area under grains decreased by 23 thousand ha, while in the current year – by 9 thousand ha.
At the same time, local producers have high demand for wheat due to its low price. Mini-mills use local raw materials only, and large-scale flour mills usually mix local and Kazakh grain raw materials to reduce the cost of flour, according to the announcement.
To date, the cost of Kazakh wheat totals 14 KGS/kg excluding VAT, and local wheat – 11 KGS/kg excluding VAT.
According to flour millers, the statistics figures show that cancellation of the VAT on the import of wheat has not dropped to the demand for Kyrgyz grain, and did not affect the interests of Kyrgyz agrarians. In January-July the import volumes of wheat to Kyrgyzstan totaled 116.087 thousand tons. At the same time, the imports of flour increased by 183%.
Taking into account the fact that more than 50% of imported flour is illegal traffic, and the reporting figures demonstrate the official imports only, the interests of local agrarians are adversely affected by the growth of imported flour volumes, in particular the illegal supplies of Kazakh flour, but not the absence of VAT on grain imports, the Committee of flour millers reported. (APK-Inform/Business World Magazine)