Business news

14 Nov 2024

Russia, Kazakhstan, UAE among top agricultural buyers at Belarusian commodity exchange

An archive photo

MINSK, 14 November (BelTA) – In January-October 2024, companies from Russia, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates were the biggest buyers of agricultural products on the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE), Deputy Head of Foreign Economic Relations at BUCE German Puzyrny said during a roundtable held by the Trade Representation of the Russian Federation in Belarus within the framework of the international wholesale trade show Prodexpo 2024, which is running in Minsk on 12-15 November, BelTA learned from the press service of BUCE.

The total value of the contracts concluded with the three countries exceeded $682 million, with Russia accounting for around 90%.

Belarusian butter, milk powder, cheese, meat products and sugar have been the most sought-after commodity items among foreign traders.

"As far as Russia is concerned, the top five largest importers of Belarusian agricultural products were Moscow Oblast, Leningrad Oblast, Smolensk Oblast, Yaroslavl Oblast, and the Republic of Tatarstan. In general, companies from 30 Russian federal subjects concluded exchange transactions to purchase agricultural produce. Butter is the top seller on the Russian market today. In January-October 2024, Russian participants purchased almost 51,000 tonnes of butter, which was many times more than last year. Skim milk powder, cheese, cottage cheese, beef, wheat gluten and amino acids were also in high demand among Russians. Exchange transactions to purchase these items are concluded regularly," German Puzyrny said.

According to the BUCE, the favorable market environment in 2024 had a positive impact on the export performance of Belarusian agricultural producers and processors that use the exchange platform. Through the platform, they were able not only to increase sales on traditional markets but also tap into new ones. In 2024, the first exchange transactions for the sale of Belarusian agricultural products were concluded with Saudi Arabia, Oman, Lebanon, Jordan, Vietnam and Malaysia.