Ukrainian business community against the monopolization of the grain market On the 14th of March, 2011 a meeting of the Economic Council was held in Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. Business community of the country, leading experts and analysts discussed the trends of rapid growth of world food prices, issues about formation of modern food market and agricultural production in Ukraine, improvement of the investment attractiveness of domestic agricultural sector and joining Ukraine to the agricultural leaders of the world.   The President of Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, people’s deputy Anatoliy Kinah, the chairman of the Business Council of Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the President of Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation (UAC) Leonid Kozachenko, the President of Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA), Volodymyr Klymenko, heads of industrial associations, academics, representatives of the real sector of economy, particularly General Director of “NIBULON”, Hero of Ukraine Oleksiy Vadaturskyy participated in the meeting.   As the people’s deputy of Ukraine from Party of Regions (PR), president of Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Anatoliy Kinakh: “Industry and business environment is concerned about the situation in agricultural sector of Ukraine, including strengthening of administrative pressure on the economic entities of the grain industry. Recent government decisions cause concern. They can lead to significant loss of competitiveness of domestic agricultural complex. Recently registered without public discussion and government statements in the parliament bills are of particular concern.   The President of Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs added: “Legislative initiatives that flagrantly violate the legislation in the sphere of agricultural activity, both within domestic and foreign markets the Constitution of Ukraine are registered. Thus violating the international obligations of Ukraine, including the International Convention on grain trade, legislation that governs antitrust and foreign trade is violated.   According to A. Kinakh, the possible adoption of these laws would actually lead to market monopolization of export of agricultural products.   His concern with the current situation today in the agrarian sector of Ukraine, expressed General Director of “NIBULON”, Hero of Ukraine Oleksiy Vadaturskyy: “I begin my speech with criticism of Chairman of the Committee on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations Grygoriy Kaletnik. I was surprised by his position that the state should intervene in the grain market. But today we see not balanced, but drastic interference in the domestic grain market, which aims to restrict export and eliminate our and other companies from the market. I am surprised that some officials have decided that the presence in the country of 15 (!) multinational companies and 200 (!) export organizations working in the grain market – could lead to monopolization (!) of grain market. But the presence of one (!) company, to which the state gives preference made in foreign trade, will lead to de-monopolization (!) of internal market and contribute to the effective promotion of Ukrainian agricultural producers to foreign markets. This is nonsense! This absurd idea is declared in the bills № 8053 and 8163, which approved the necessity of creation of monopoly agent for export of grain that will lead to manual pricing in the domestic grain market. Will agricultural sector benefit from this activity? – Of course not! Recently, heads of different regions refer to me, as a head of agricultural enterprise, with a request to allocate grain at preferential/underestimated prices to remove the problem of the regions in flour and bread supply at least for some time. There is a logical question. What does the Agricultural Fund do? Why do we solve these problems during the last 3 months? So instead of drastic interference in the activities of the grain market, the government should intensify the work of the Agrarian Fund and the relevant government agencies, and insist that they acted solely through market mechanisms.”   The President of Ukrainian Grain Association Volodymyr Klymenko also speaks of the discriminatory measures against the parties in the grain market and wonders why you need to register the contracts on the exchange. “None of the countries have the same situation. There must be real tenders in the exchange. Is our customs unable to give the necessary information to the state? Transfer of registration of contracts on the exchange of the Agrarian Fund is making money by certain people”- he said.   The Chairman of Business Council at CMU Leonid Kozachenko is against the acceptance of the bills. He claims that their approval would mean the destruction of market principles and implementation of transparent administration of management decisions. “Private investors invest annually over USD 140 billion in agriculture. But these resources do not go into Ukraine, they go, for example, into Brazil. So there are objective reasons why the law № 8163, which is now in the parliament, should be forever removed from deliberation”- said L. Kozachenko.   Thus, only “NIBULON” last year invested more than UAH 1.3 billion in economy of Ukraine into building of infrastructure, vessels and tugs. Due to the cooperation with international financial institutions and support of governments of European countries, we implement the program of revival of the Dnipro and the Southern Bug as waterways of Ukraine that will provide real savings for the agricultural sector of Ukraine in UAH 4 billion. Our company has created all conditions for Ukrainian agricultural producers to receive a high price for their products on world markets. But such intervention is a constraining factor that hinders our company to actively invest in the agricultural sector of Ukraine, farmers to receive adequate payment for products grown and our state to maintain a positive image in the world.   Such authoritative international organizations like IMF, World Bank, EBRD, GAFTA, EBA, American Chamber of Commerce also expressed their deep concern about these bills. In order to prevent irreparable consequences that may arise in the case of these and other bills, UUIE, UAC, UGA asked the top officials with a demand to stop the destruction of the agricultural industry of Ukraine – to prevent the adoption of the bills.Appropriate application was directed to the President, the Prime Minister and the head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.   Ukrainian business community stands for market economy in the state: a free and fair competition, civilized cooperation between government and business, the legal nature of legislative activity in the economy. Only following these principles can positively influence the situation in Ukraine, raise the image of our country in the eyes of the world community and bring it to the leaders in the international grain market.