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Strategic commodity reserves

Strategic commodity reserves

The primary task entrusted to the Agency’s Division for strategic commodity reserves is to establish and maintain stocks of essential food and non-food items people need when there is supply shortage, strategic raw materials and intermediary products necessary used by processing industries or being particularly important for the country’s defence.

The approach to putting in place a programme for stockpiling commodity reserves and their release from stock is decided by the Government the Republic of Slovenia in its five-year programme that specifies the categories and minimum quantities by the type of goods to be held in stock that can be released from stock in the event of a supply disruption due to major natural disasters and other emergencies and wars.

The Agency drafts the programmes of its activities and the budget for every financial year on the basis of the Fife-Year Programme of Work. Both documents are laid before the Administrative Board of the Agency for approval. The programme for the establishment of stocks, as well as the release of the goods held in reserve, pencils in the target size of the reserves and their replenishment and restructuring in line with the identified needs. The stockpiles of items that might become scarce in case of emergency are increased or reduced based on decisions taken by the Government.

In case that the reserve requirement for a specific type of commodity calls for a rise in its stock, the Agency carries out purchase procedures in accordance with laws and regulations governing public procurement. Public procurement legislation is strictly followed also when the Agency sells stocks designated as non-strategic and put on the market. The decisions as to the commodities to be held as reserve stocks or to be sold off are taken by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and the ministry tasked with supplying staple goods and other commodities. When reserve stocks are to be replenished or renewed, the Agency makes arrangements with its contractual partners to replace the stocks held as strategic reserves with fresh products of the same kind in equal quantity and of equal quality.

The Division for stockholding of commodity reserves of the Republic of Slovenia is tasked with:

  • publishing calls for tenders within the framework of public procurement procedure,
  • providing for the sale of stocks from the national strategic reserves,
  • organising storage and replenishment/renewal of reserve stocks held in the Agency’s own storage facilities or the rented ones, as well as awarding contracts for storage and replenishment/renewal of reserve stocks,
  • working together with storage facility operators and conducting controls of quantity and quality of reserve stocks,
  • organising packaging, processing and transport of commodities,
  • providing for insurance of the property of the Agency, and
  • selling and renting real estate.

The commodities currently held by the Agency as reserve stocks:

Food commodities (raw agricultural commodities and processed commodities)

Wheat and products made from wheat (flour, pasta), corn, rice, rye, meat (live animals), milk and dairy products (powder milk, cheese), sugar, edible oil, water, salt.

Non-food commodities

Products for the needs of humane medicine, products for the needs of veterinary medicine, petroleum products for the needs of Slovenia’s law enforcement/police forces, Army and the system for protection against natural and other disasters, lubricants, liquefied petroleum gas, products for personal and collective protection, other products (gas oil and heating oil/stoves, candles…).

The Agency keeps reserve stocks in:

  • storage facilities owned and operated by the Agency,
  • storage facilities owned by the Agency and operated by co-owners or other economic operators/companies chosen on the basis of public tendering procedure,
  • rented storage facilities.

The Agency uses the storage facilities in its ownership and operated by it primarily to store goods/products that do not require any special conditions of storage and products to endure for longer periods of time without renewal/replacement. The bigger part of the reserve stocks stored in the Agency’s storage facilities operated by economic operators/companies in the quantities that enable the stocks to be renewed/refreshed on a regular basis. The reserve stocks stored by the Agency in the rented facilities/warehouses mostly comprise products that call for special storage conditions that the Agency cannot provide in its own storage capacities, that is, the products having specific characteristics and have to be renewed/refreshed frequently.