Opening the meeting, First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said, in part:
"As we agreed a week ago, today we will discuss preparations for seasonal fieldwork, among other things. This year the drought has changed our agriculture schedule. The main problem is the lack of certainty on the amount of moisture in the ground and weather conditions. Unfortunately, things are not getting better and the risks remain high. Yesterday I instructed the Agricultural Academy to draft recommendations on sowing together with the Ministry of Agriculture and to send them to all drought-hit regions.
We have never experienced such conditions. At that time, we were usually sowing without any rush. In some of the regions August 5 is the best date for starting to sow but, unfortunately, these abnormal weather conditions require adjustments. Therefore, today we must consult the heads of the regions on the scale and schedule of sowing. We must also discuss with them postponing some of the sowing until spring, which is very likely.
Our key goal is to effectively organize seasonal work at the federal and regional levels. Next year's harvest depends directly on our ability to accomplish this. We must prepare and resolve all issues involved with sowing both winter and spring crops in good time. There must be enough seeds, fertiliser and fuel. Equipment must be ready for work. We should start stockpiling reserves now. They will be in demand because spring sowing is likely to cover an additional several million hectares.
I believe it is essential to thoroughly inventory the amount and quality of seeds, find ways to make up for shortages and determine the deadlines and resources for their pre-planting cultivation.
We will listen to what the Association of Mineral Fertiliser Producers has to say about the amount of mineral fertiliser and prices for it. The main goal is to stock the mineral fertiliser reserve for spring sowing when prices are at their lowest. I'd like to emphasise that we have agreed to do so quite recently.
As for the equipment, we must draft plans for its prompt transfer between the regions during spring sowing. We realise that we don't have too much time for spring sowing. Therefore I gave special instructions to Rosagrolizing (the State Agro-Industrial Leasing Company) to be ready as well.
We will listen today to the Finance Ministry's report on the transfer of funds from the federal budget to affected regions, which, I know, is currently underway. Eighteen of these regions have already received money and several more will get it today and on Monday.
The regions must quickly transfer the incoming budget funds to agricultural producers. Please, don't delay on this. These funds must go toward priority goals. I think that the number one issue is the purchase of feed - we must not allow any decline in the livestock population.
Agricultural producers need loans to sustain their businesses. Many of them have become less stable financially due to the drought, which has affected their solvency. Yesterday I met with top bankers and officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and other government agencies to thrash out this issue. Bankers are eager to reduce interest rates on the loans that they have issued and will issue in future, but only for separate businesses. We also discussed the possibility of extending loans. The amount in question is quite big, 127 billion roubles. The larger share of these funds will be divided between Russia's two leading banks, Sberbank and Russian Agricultural Bank. Yesterday we agreed to give the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice three days to coordinate the draft for a government resolution to fund the interests on extended loans, and submit it to the government.
Concerning grain from the intervention fund, the president and the prime minister have instructed the agencies involved to coordinate a resolution and submit it to the government by August 20. This resolution is being finalised. We have a clear vision of each step to be made. The only open question is the date on which grain sales will begin.
On August 15, a temporary ban on grain export takes effect. The situation in the grain market is stabilising and is likely to become even more stable due to this ban. Grain should be sold in Russian regions, and there's no reason to push up prices. We touched on this issue yesterday. I'd like to ask the companies that have a surplus of grain not to hold it back but sell it to the agricultural producers that are short of grain, both cereal and forage grain. This will straighten out the situation in the grain market. We'll keep an eye on it. Unless this effect is achieved, we'll have to resort to selling grain from the intervention fund. In this case, those that are sitting on grain will lose out. I'd like to ask them again to start selling it. This will help to keep the situation under control.
I'd like to note that we adopted government resolution No. 530 at exactly the right time. This resolution stipulates that in accordance with the law on trade, the government of the Russian Federation has the right to set price limits for a period of 90 days to stabilise retail prices in the event that prices of at least some essential food products rise continuously within 30 days and the total increase is 30% or more. The list of essential food products includes 24 items. This mechanism is regulated by resolution No. 530. As I have said, there's no prerequisite for such measures but I'd like you to keep in mind that this resolution has been developed and brought into effect."
The meeting of the working group was held in the format of a video conference with the participation of the regional leaders that have declared a state of emergency in their regions due to the abnormally hot weather. The creation of the interdepartmental working group on drought relief was initiated by the prime minister. It includes representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Regional Development, the Ministry of Emergencies, the Ministry of Energy, the Federal Insurance Monitoring Service, the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, the Federal Service for State Statistics, the Federal Antimonopoly Service, Russian Railways, as well as bankers and experts. The working group meets every week.