News
02.09.2010
Ukraine parliament head against grain exports being subject to quotas
The chairman of Ukraine's parliament has protested a proposal for restrictions on grain exports, arguing that they might be a stimulus for paying bribes for export permission, the parliament press service said on Wednesday.
"I am categorically against bans of any kind because this would lead to black market profiteering. If, for example, we introduce a rule on grain exports being subject to quotas it will mean that we have created one more opportunity for corruption and abuse of office," Volodymyr Lytvyn said.
Lytvyn said Ukraine, especially its private farms, had supplied the country with enough grain this year. "The state must think of making this grain subject to state registration if necessary and how to pay the money that is due. The same goes for buckwheat in view of the fact that some people work on their own plots and have some reserves," he said.
Though he opposed quotas, the speaker said they might have a positive side to them as well as they would "reduce the appetite of grain traders who want to buy grain for a song and take it out of the country."
He also insisted that prices to be paid for grain that is bought for export purposes should be at least as high as the cost of growing it.
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