OREANDA-NEWS. July 27, 2010. The Memorandum of Cooperation was signed by the Lviv Regional State Administration, manufacturers of flour and bread, and network retail traders. Concern Klibprom — the leader of bread making of the region and one of the largest national bread manufacturers — is one of the signers of the Memorandum.

According to Vadym Vyshnevskyi, one of the most acute problems of the industry is the worn-out state and overage of baking equipment. Major part of the companies operates using equipment that is over 30 years old and that need total refit. In the current conditions such companies are not able to afford renovation of production capacities, since it requires sufficient investments. Such equipment is manufactured mostly in EU countries. For example the price of one production line for manufacturing Sykhivskyi baguette constitutes over EUR 1.5 mln.

According to the Memorandum, manufacturers agreed to fix wholesale and sale prices for socially important types of bread at the level of prices valid on June 30, 2010. In its turn, the Lviv Regional State Administration is obliged to involve manufacturers and traders in preparing normative legal documents that regulate food markets and trading relations.

"Concern Khlibprom is a price-forming company of the baking industry in Lviv region, — Vadym Vyshnevskyi emphasized. — That is why we fully understand our responsibility to the customers, as well as to our labour staff which comprises in total over 4 thousand of employees in five regions of Ukraine. If the price level for grain and other components that influence prime cost of the products, including salary, is remained unchanged, we will not increase prices for socially important types of bread till the end of 2010."

There is a plan to hold a discussion together with Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in September 2010 concerning situation in bakery industry in the form of round table with participation of business and government representatives which allows to determine the mechanisms of solving existing problems.

"Establishment of the dialogue between private business and government at the local level, as well as at the national one, will facilitate the solving of problems of manufacturers of socially important products". — Vadym Vyshnevskyi pointed out.