The Commission for Licensing the Import of Cereals and Sunflower Seeds accepted twelve of the thirteen applications to authorize the import of corn for popcorn and sunflower seeds of several categories, IPN reports.

State secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Sarban told a press conference that three stages of licensing imports of grains and oilseeds have been conducted since October. In the first two, the import of sunflower seeds for confectionery purposes and for the purpose of peeling and marketing of peeled seeds was allowed. In the last stage, the requests related to corn for popcorn, sunflower seeds, but also seeds for oil were accepted for four economic agents.

As the period regulating the licensing of the import of certain categories of grains and oilseeds ends on June 29, the Ministry is looking for legal solutions that would protect the domestic producers from supra-volumes and price reductions on the local market. The official said that there is no room for concern because there is no excess of sunflower seeds on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. It could probably appear after the new harvest, at the end of August or the beginning of September.