VZCZCXRO6282
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHNEH RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #1506/01 3260509
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 210509Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1887
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4515
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 2327
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 2192
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 2763
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 3081

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001506 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EEB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV EAGR ETRD SOCI TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: ROTTEN IMPORTED INDIAN EGGS CAUSE A 
STINK 
 
REF: ASHGABAT 0026 
 
¶1.  (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Turkmenistan has imported eggs from India 
since spring 2008 because it cannot satisfy the consumer 
appetite for eggs from domestic sources.  However, 
Turkmenistan does not properly store the eggs, and they 
consequently spoil before the expiration date.  Nevertheless, 
the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, whose 
main task is importing food to satisfy the needs of the 
market, is prohibiting private sellers from selling their 
eggs on the open market, ostensibly because the private 
vendors do not have the proper health and sanitation 
documentation.  In reality, according to sources, the 
Ministry wants to sell off its supply of rotten Indian eggs. 
Some provincial egg producers have been selling their eggs 
outside of bazaars, at the risk of harassment.  This is not 
the first time that the government has prevented private 
parties from selling because the government needed to get rid 
of product.  Some locals also criticize the Ministry of Trade 
and Foreign Economic Relations, which also rents space in 
government buildings to private commercial entities, for 
alleged corruption, and say that the Ministry should be 
dissolved as "it doesn,t do anything for people." 
Turkmenistan's insistence on selling rotten eggs hurts 
everyone, including consumers and private producers.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
OFFICIAL MINISTRY TRADERS TELL PEOPLE THAT THE EGGS ARE BAD 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Since spring 2008, the Ministry of Trade and 
Foreign Economic Relations has imported all eggs sold in 
Ashgabat bazaars due to a lack of capacity to satisfy the 
consumer appetite for eggs from domestic sources.  Official 
traders sell these eggs, imported from India, at a cost of 
15,000 manat per ten eggs.  However, these traders tell 
customers that the eggs are not good and generally discourage 
people from buying them.  The expiration date of the eggs is 
officially two months away, but because the eggs are not 
properly stored, they rot earlier than they should.  The 
Ministry will not place a new order from India because prices 
have risen, making them unaffordable for Turkmenistan's 
market. 
 
SOME PROVINCIAL PRODUCERS RISK SELLING OUTSIDE OF BAZAARS 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic 
Relations refuses to allow sales of eggs from private farms 
at Ashgabat food bazaars, ostensibly because local producers 
lack health and sanitary certificates and licenses, but 
sometimes vendors will sell local eggs secretly from under 
the table.  One local recently noticed shuttle traders from 
Mary province who sold eggs outside of Ashgabat's Dashoguz 
Bazaar -- at the risk of being kicked out by the police or 
having to pay a bribe -- for 25,000 manat per ten eggs. 
Meanwhile, econoff noticed on November 14 that vendors are 
selling eggs at bazaars in Mary for 16,000 manat ($1.13) per 
ten eggs.  These eggs sold in Mary can only be privately and 
locally produced because imported eggs are sold only in 
Ashgabat.  (NOTE:  There is also no imported milk available 
in Mary.  END NOTE.)  One Ashgabat resident believes that if 
private vendors from all over Turkmenistan were allowed to 
sell eggs at Ashgabat bazaars, competition would lower the 
price to 20,000 manat for ten eggs. 
 
OBTAINING HEALTH CERTIFICATES IS COMPLICATED -- AND COSTLY -- 
PROCESS 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Obtaining the health and sanitary certificates is a 
complicated bureaucratic process that requires bribes, so 
many private producers prefer to risk selling these goods 
without the certificates.  However, this prohibition on 
selling private eggs is unofficial -- and the real issue is 
that Turkmenistan habitually prohibits privately-produced 
 
ASHGABAT 00001506  002 OF 002 
 
 
poultry when it suits government needs to sell the product it 
purchased (reftel).  For example, traders sold Altyn Hilal 
chicken meat literally from under the counter at Ashgabat 
bazaars after a major import of U.S. chicken in January 2008, 
but today Altyn Hilal chicken is sold openly at all markets. 
 
MINISTRY OF TRADE AND FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS IS HOTBED OF 
CORRUPTION 
 
¶6.  (SBU) This same local explained that because most food is 
now privately produced and state stores are empty, the 
Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations leases 
commercial space in bazaars and other government food shops 
to private restaurant vendors.  This source explained that 
this presents Ministry officials with many rent-seeking 
opportunities.  Because the Ministry "doesn't help people," 
it should be dissolved. 
 
NEW PRIVATE CHICKEN FARM AIMS TO SATISFY THE LOCAL MARKET 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The owner of a large poultry complex located in 
Archabil, a country village outside of Ashgabat received a 70 
billion manat loan (or $4,912,280, at a five percent interest 
rate and with a two-year grace period) through a presidential 
decree for construction of a complex, which will have the 
capacity to produce 3,000 tons of chicken meat per year. 
(NOTE:  The owner of this farm is also one of the sons of the 
head of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.  Both 
father and son are named Aleksandr Dadayev.  END NOTE.)  This 
complex has begun to supply whole chickens to the market for 
40,000 manat per kilogram and plans to produce eggs in the 
future.  (NOTE:  Chicken legs in the market typically cost 
37,000 manats per kilogram.  END NOTE.)  Another small 
private egg producer with two farms in Geokdepe outside of 
Ashgabat is supplying eggs via commercial shops and street 
vendors for 25,000-30,000 manats per ten eggs, but does not 
have the capacity to fulfill the needs of the entire Ashgabat 
market.  The owner of this farm is former governor of Ahal 
province Juma Amansahatov. 
 
¶8. (SBU) COMMENT:  Although the government is attempting to 
restrict sales of privately-produced eggs because of health 
and welfare issues, Turkmenistan's insistence on selling 
rotten eggs hurts everyone, including consumers who are 
risking their health, and private producers who needlessly 
complicate their lives to sell their goods.  The restrictions 
on selling privately-produced eggs will probably loosen once 
the Indian eggs sell out, much as what happened after the 
imported chicken was sold.  END COMMENT. 
MILES