Acting Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic Artyom Novikov signed a decree on the introduction of a ban on the export of certain types of agricultural products from Kyrgyzstan outside the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union. According to the document, restrictions are imposed for up to six months.
The list of what is specifically prohibited for export abroad was prepared and posted on its website by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Industry and Land Reclamation of the country. The list includes 14 items: horses, donkeys, mules and hinnies (live); cattle (live); sheep and goats (live); poultry (live) - chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and guinea fowls; wheat and meslin; barley; corn; rice; wheat flour; vegetable oil; granulated sugar; chicken eggs; food iodized table salt; feed (hay, straw, compound feed, bran and grain feed). The Ministry of Agriculture reported that this step is aimed primarily at ensuring the country's food security.
- In the Kyrgyz Republic, the breeding stock of livestock has sharply decreased, - explained the head of the department, Tilek Toktogaziev. - Meanwhile, its preservation is a strategically important task for the development of the livestock industry. Hence the forced restrictive measures. I must say that if we do not resort to them, then we will have problems with meat already next year, for the reason that there will be no one from whom there will be offspring.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, until 2020, Uzbekistan (RUz) was actively buying livestock in Kazakhstan. However, the neighbors imposed restrictions on the export of animals, offering finished products in return. The Uzbek meat-packing plants had no choice but to change their Kazakh suppliers to Kyrgyz ones.
At the beginning of November 2020, the export of cattle from Kyrgyzstan to the Republic of Uzbekistan increased by almost 10 times. This, as the State Agency for Antimonopoly Regulation of the Kyrgyz Republic believes, caused a sharp rise in the price of meat in the republic.
If the average price for mutton in the republic in January 2020 was 300 soms per kilogram, then at the end of November it increased to 380-400 soms. The situation is similar with other types of meat.
At the same time, it is worth recalling that in March 2020, Kyrgyzstan temporarily limited the import of animals and animal products from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.
As noted in the State Inspectorate for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Safety of the Kyrgyz Republic, this was done "to prevent the introduction of nodular dermatitis into the territory of the republic." This ban has not yet been lifted.