“The latest rises in the sale prices of sugar are speculative operations of intermediaries and sellers and run counter to the legislation,” the head of the Commercial Policies Division of the Ministry of Economy and Trade Octavian Calmac said at the meeting of the Business Journalists’ Club.

The sugar prices have risen by about 30-50% during the past two days, from 11 lei to 15 lei or even 18 lei. According to Calmac, the increases are not justified as there are no reasons for raising the sugar prices, which are lower on the neighboring markets.

Calmac said that under the Government Decision regarding the profit margin on socially important products, the margin must not exceed 20%. “The national producers sell a kilogram of sugar for 9.1 lei-9.35 lei, while on the food markets the sugar costs 11.25-11.50 lei a kilogram,” Calmac said.

Vlad Bercu, the president of the Business Journalists’ Club, said that the situation on the sugar market is similar with that on the cement market, where certain interests are at stake.

In the same connection, Calmac said that the Economy Ministry’s specialists are now examining the situation on the sugar market in order to stop the price rises. According to the Ministry, the two large sugar producers, Sudzucker-Moldova and Marr Sugar-Moldova, have sufficient supplies of sugar to satisfy industrial and private consumers’ demands. They even export sugar to the European Union.

Since the start of this year, Sudzucker-Moldova and Marr Sugar-Moldova have exported 7,500 tonnes of sugar or 52% of the sugar quota offered by the EU to Moldova under the preferential trade region. // Reporter.MD



Publication date: 05 June 2008   

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