Nuno Maciel announced today in the Madeiran plenary the policy of the Regional Government on the ‘Strategic Cereal Reserve.’
The PSD MEP shared that with the war in Ukraine, and according to the World Bank, “wheat prices are expected to increase by more than 40% in 2022 and reach historic highs in nominal terms, which will put pressure on markets that depend mostly on exports from Russia and Ukraine.”
In other words, “the world is experiencing a glaring situation of scarcity of cereals, not only because of the deprivation in production capacity but also because of the severe difficulties in maritime transport across the Black Sea.”
Thus, according to Nuno Maciel, “attentive to this reality that surpasses us, the Regional Government has given another clear sign of action and protection of all Madeirans in essential matters of survival, through the creation of a strategic reserve of cereals, which will be installed in the storage silos in the Port of Caniçal, ensuring the supply to the regional market for a minimum of two months, which equates to 8,600 tonnes of cereal, The reserve is expected to remain in effect until the end of 2023. Thus, through a maintenance contract, Silos da Madeira S.A. is obliged to dispose of this stock, with a view to preventing the possibility of an interruption of the supply chain or a rupture of stocks within the timescale.”
The Social Democrat MEP stresses that “it is with this notion and this concern that the Regional Government is committed to its own budget of more than EUR 871,000 to ensure stability in the supply of these same goods and, in this way, seeks to mitigate the impacts of the production crisis and transport over costs on the Madeiran table, ensuring some stability in the final price to the consumer.”
For “the Regional Government bread is sacred and essential at the table of all of us. It is therefore important to protect our ability to produce it, through sufficient wheat storage and stock, by safeguarding for a longer period of time the sovereignty, self-sufficiency, and food security of a region that is insular, outermost, and extremely dependent on maritime transport. The maintenance of this strategic reserve of cereals, through the logistics capacity of storage and distribution installed, ensures the normal and regular supply to the regional market for a period of time of not less than two months.”
“These cereals, intended for the feeding of all Madeirans, are soft wheat, for the industrial production of flour which will supply the bakery network and guarantee bread, which is an essential food; and durum wheat, intended for industrial mass production, which is also fundamental to the daily regional diet.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
