Agricultural Minister Balazs disputes GUS forecast of a disastrous harvest

Agriculture Minister Artur Balazs disputed the prediction by the Central Statistical Office (GUS) on the extent of the crop failure. "Our estimates show losses won't be as bad as GUS has forecast. The losses will be near 10%," said Balazs. Still, the exact results of the disaster will not be known until after this year's harvest is finished at the end of September. It is possible there will be no increase in grain prices as the government has yet to decide on increasing preferential import quotas for grain. The government has already allowed 300,000 tonnes of grain and 200,000 tonnes of maize to be imported duty-free. The Agricultural Market Agency (ARR) said it planned to intervene on the market and would buy 3.3 million tonnes of milling wheat and 700,000 tonnes of rye to stabilize the prices. In an attempt to protect the farmers in the future the government has agreed to introduce compulsory crop insurance which would be partially subsidized by the budget. (Prawo i Gospodarka, page 1, Gazeta Wyborcza, page 16, Reuters) J.K