Prime Minister: Government intensifies coordination with food producers amid limited energy supply

Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko held a meeting with representatives of food producer associations regarding business operations amid limited energy supply.

The Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture is responsible for coordinating cooperation with producers and retail chains on food security issues. The Ministry has a special task force, whose work is coordinated by Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine Oleksii Sobolev and his deputy Taras Vysotskyi.

The Prime Minister instructed the State Emergency Service of Ukraine to immediately consider the possibility of providing assistance in the short-term supply of electricity to enterprises that produce basic food products in the event of sudden power outages.

The Ministry of Energy and the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission have been instructed to ensure the connection and launch of generating facilities that are available to food producers and have not yet been put into operation. The Government has already adopted all the necessary decisions for this purpose.

In addition, the State Emergency Service will strengthen coordination with food producers in the regions to form operational food reserves in case it becomes necessary to set up food distribution points.

The Prime Minister also appealed to retail chains to give greater preference to Ukrainian food products.

"This is a matter of the overall stability of our economy. I have instructed the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture to develop additional measures to support producers in this regard," the Head of Government emphasised.

According to her, Ukraine currently has sufficient food supplies, and production capacity exceeds domestic demand.

"The situation is under control," the Prime Minister stressed.