Joković: Purchase of surplus lambs could begin at the end of next week

Montenegro’s Minister of Agriculture, Vladimir Joković, has announced that the purchase of surplus lambs on the market could begin at the end of next week, after verification of the reported surpluses and selection of buyers. The ministry has said it will aim for the purchase price to be at last year’s level of 4.75 euros per kilogram of live weight.

According to the minister, the purchase should start as soon as possible, so that the state can come to the aid of livestock farmers’ requests. Farmers have reported a market surplus of 22,000 head, significantly more than in previous years. Joković has expressed suspicions of illegal imports of lambs from neighboring states, since smugglers seek easy and quick profit: in Montenegro, the purchase price is higher by 1.5 euros per kilogram of live weight.

“What we saw, comparing the data — because we have absolutely data for every household, because we give subsidies for sheep, there are so many sheep, this is counted — we have there something unnatural, that someone who has 100 sheep reports 350 lambs, which is absolutely impossible, and this is an attempt to come through other routes to illegal profit. No obligation, let me say immediately, will the state have toward those who have wanted to deceive, eventually to deceive — we now have such indications. If someone has reported what they don’t have, there is no need to buy even what they have,” Joković assessed.

The ministry has formed a commission that will verify the real surpluses of lambs. “We must do this urgently, but you know, when some illogicalities emerge, then the most honest suffer, those livestock farmers, because in this drought lambs don’t gain weight anymore, nights are long, they may even lose weight,” the minister emphasized.

Although the real market price of lamb meat is significantly lower, the Ministry says it will do everything to preserve last year’s price of 4.75 euros. “We will see how to buy all the lambs, and here we lack the funds for these interventions, and here we must talk to the Ministry of Finance. Some ask: everything has become more expensive, can the price be 5? Can it be 5.5? I tell everyone: we can put 5.5 and 7.5 and 10 if necessary, I would be glad, but who will buy at that price?” he addressed them.

A meeting is scheduled for tomorrow with representatives of the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund, retail chains and the meat industry, after which the public call for the selection of buyers will be announced. If everything goes as planned, the purchase of surplus lambs on the market could begin at the end of next week, the ministry says.

Source: RTCG