Business news

MINSK, 4 September (BelTA) – The first container train loaded with Belarusian dairy products is on the way to China, BelTA has learned.

The train will move from the Belarusian railway station Kolyadichi all the way to the Tuanjiecun station in Chongqing, China. It is not the first shipment of Belarusian dairy products to China but it is the first shipment being delivered by a dedicated container train. The train consists of 41 40-foot containers, with 20 of them filled with Belarusian milk powder, BelTA learned from Aleksei Bogdanov, Head of the Central Office for Foreign Economic Activities of the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry. The other containers are filled with Belarusian exports, too.

The shipment has been organized by the Belintertrans Transport-Logistics Center enterprise (BTLC) of the Belarusian Railways and ZAO Meat & Dairy Company. “Belarus has opted for the strategy of securing its foothold on the Chinese market with milk powder first. When the trademark becomes recognizable, one will be able to offer new products, too. Butter, cheese, and whey are in the pipeline,” noted Pavel Stainov, head of ZAO Meat & Dairy Company.

The train will need ten days to reach its destination. Getting the freight from Belarus to China by sea would take 40 days. “We pay close attention to the development of freight transportation by container trains between Europe and China. Positive dynamics has emerged in the last few years. In January-July 2018 our company forwarded over 30,000 containers, 115-120% as against the same period of last year,” said BTLC First Deputy Director General Alexander Yanchevsky.