Miller Magazine Issue: 143 November 2021

80 INTERVIEW MILLER / november 2021 number of people are switching to plant foods, be- coming vegans or flexitarians, and eating as little meat as possible. Various studies show that eating meat can incre- ase your risk of heart disease and cancer. Avoiding meat and dairy products is one of the most effec- tive ways to reduce the human influence on nature says Science magazine. Livestock leads to the emission of greenhouse gases, which together lead to global warming. Ac- cording to a UN report, livestock generates 14.5% of all greenhouse gases. Artificial meat, made from legumes, is gaining immense popularity. Vegetable meat is still more expensive than traditional meat. According to our estimates, the purchase price for Beyond Meat is about 40-45% higher than marbled beef. So far, this meat is quite expensive, but this is unders- tandable: people have invested half a billion dol- lars in the company, they need to beat them off, somehow return the investment to their sharehol- ders. In general, vegetable meat in production is an order of magnitude cheaper than animal meat; it can feed all the hungry. Without a doubt, it can be argued that this product has great prospects in the global market, which is already beginning to bear fruit. PULSE PRICES RISEN BY OVER 15 PERCENT SINCE LAST YEAR What will be the key factors affecting the pulse prices in the coming months? The Covid-19 pandemic has spurred an incre- ase in healthy eating to boost recovery and bu- ild immunity, but this change could end up cos- ting common folk a packet. The prices of pulses, among the cheapest sources of protein, have risen by over 15 percent since last year. Milk, fruits, and vegetables have also seen price rises, with edible oil prices surging by about 50 percent since last year. In May, world retail inflation hit a six-month high of 6.3 percent. Do you think Russian wheat export taxes would undermine the competitiveness of Russia on the international market? New taxes and restrictions will affect the com- petitiveness of Russian products. In this case, Russian exporters were forced to raise offer prices for Russian wheat, which made it less competitive compared with rival origins and slowed exports. Russia can consider some options for changes in the floating wheat export tax, like raising the base price from the current $200/t or lowering the current 70% rate in the tax calculation formula in a bid to restore the competitiveness of Russian wheat. With the current export policy, Russia's govern- ment is risking missing its wheat export target for this marketing season, repeating the experience of the previous season, when at least 8mn t of wheat export potential was not shipped because of export restrictions. Exports of major pulse crops from Russia and Ukraine