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3. Intervention |
The federal budget has planned 650 M Dinars [approx. 10 M USD]
for this year's export subsidies to aid the export of the entire
agricultural and food processing industry, five point seven
percent [37M Dinars] of which are earmarked for exporters of
cattle, fish, meat and meat by-products.
Participants of the STOFO meeting have judged this rate of subsidies
as inadequate and they want the budget restructured and an increase
of their rate of subsidy from 5% to 21%, so that there will
not be a repeat of last year's action which saw the bulk of
exported meat going to Republic of Srpska and Macedonia. "Without
drastic changes, these two republics will also be the major
purchasers of Serbian export beef, again.
Keeping in mind the small size of these markets and, the heavy
competition from other countries, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary
and Slovakia, [all of these countries have a much higher level
of livestock export subsidies - from 40% in some and up to 100%
in EU countries], we should ask ourselves how we will be able
to maintain the same levels of exports to these markets. The
level of stimulus for the export of agriculture and food products
maintained for the last 3 decades in Yugoslavia has made YU
agriculture competent in the world market resulting, until 10
years ago, with an agricultural export market worth approximately
1.3 billion USD annually, of which livestock exportation accounted
for 300-400 M USD," said Njegomir.
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Source: Ekonomist Magazin, Number 96, 25 March 2002, "Hej, haj,
bas nas briga..." by Nadezda Vodenicar |
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