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EEC Board approved key directions for developing Union's oil and fat industry
The Eurasian Economic Commission's Board has approved the main directions of cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union countries to ensure the stable functioning of the oil and fat industry.
The oil and fat industry is one of the fastest growing and export-oriented industries of the Union's agricultural sector. Over the past five years, the oil crop production has increased by 1.7 times to 33 mln tons, and the oil manufacture has increased by 1.5 times to 8.8 mln tons. This has contributed to increasing exports of these products, which accounted for a fifth of the external agri-food supplies from the Union.
However, new challenges now arise due to the changing geopolitical and economic situation, the environmental agenda, and the disruption of trade and logistics routes.
In this regard, and given the strategic importance of the oil and fat industry for ensuring food security, the interested countries of the Union are recommended to interact in a number of key directions.
They include developing oil crop breeding and seed production, for which there is a critical dependence on seed imports, implementing state-of-the art technologies for their cultivation and processing, as well as ensuring the balanced development of the oil and fat industry.
The document pays special attention to improving professional competence and retraining, as well as shaping the Union's law in terms of regulating the market for alternative plant products.
Furthermore, the Member States were invited to cooperate in sustainable development of the industry through implementing measures to reduce the negative impact on the climate and the environment, and improving conditions for access of oil and fat products manufactured in the Union to third markets.
