Accounting Chamber questioned the ability of the food industry to replace Russian imports

Russia can not cope with the full import substitution products, fallen under the embargo.

This conclusion was made ​​by experts of the Russian Audit Chamber in the conclusion to the draft law "On the Federal Budget for 2015 and the planning period of 2016 and 2017 years." The document notes that the potential for import substitution in the food sector is currently limited because of the lack of production capacity in the food industry. This relates primarily to certain types of meat and dairy products and cheeses.

The Accounting Chamber leads preliminary Rosstat data, according to which the proportion of spare capacity in the meat processing industry in Russia in 2013 amounted to about 34 percent. The share of imports in the consumption of beef in 2013 in Russia amounted to almost 59 percent, pork - 31 per cent of poultry meat - 13 percent. The level of spare capacity in the Russian cheese industry in 2013 was 41 percent compared to the proportion of 48 per cent of imports of cheeses.

The report also notes the joint venture, which in 2013 was 41 percent unloaded facilities for the production of dairy products in Russia. While on dairy imports in the same period accounted for about 60 per cent. Also stresses that the production of certain types of food products using imported raw materials, including the number of those who in the sanctions list of the countries. This, according to experts JV can create additional difficulties in downloading the available spare capacity.

In this case, according to the calculations of the Accounting Chamber, using information from the Federal Customs Service, in 2013 40% of total imports of food products contained in the list approved by the Government Decree on August 7, 2014 № 778, imported from countries with respect to which the period of one year ban on the import of Russian agricultural products, raw materials and food, including from the European Union - 29% from the United States - 3.6% of Norway - 5% from Canada - 1 6%, from Australia - 0.8%. In view of the possible sanctions from the Ukraine for the supply of agricultural and food products in the territory of the Russian Federation, the volume of imported agricultural and food products, have come under the sanctions could be around 45% of the total volume of goods.

In the context of the risk of incomplete import PO proposes to include mechanisms to stimulate long-term investment activity. Office Specialists believe that it is necessary to subsidize the interest rate on the investment projects to create agricultural production and processing centers, storage and delivery of food to the consumer.

Source: Lenta.ru, Aaudit.gov.ru