MINSK, 13 September (BelTA) — In January-August 2024, the amount of transactions involving Russian companies at the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE) grew by 4.4 times up to $622 million in equivalent, Head of the BUCE foreign economic activity department Aleksandr Bashliy said during the International Economic Cooperation Forum held as part of the celebration of the 957th anniversary of Minsk, BelTA learned from the BUCE press service.
This year companies from 48 regions of Russia concluded deals on the exchange platform. The total number of Russian companies accredited at BUCE reached 4,007, including 397 new ones since the beginning of the year.
Speaking about the opportunities and advantages of the exchange, Aleksandr Bashliy gave an example of successful cooperation with Russian companies at the regional level. According to him, such an approach to Belarus-Russia exchange trade facilitates positive dynamic growth in the number of Russian companies and the volume of deals concluded by them.
"In January-August this year companies from Moscow Oblast, Leningrad Oblast, Smolensk Oblast, Yaroslavl Oblast and from Tatarstan became leaders in terms of exchange contracts. In total, these regions accounted for over 80% of Belarus-Russia exchange trade. Export of Belarusian agricultural products remain the key growth driver, which increased by nearly 39 times year-on-year. Butter, milk powder, cheese, meat products and feed additives were in the greatest demand on the Russian market. As for import from Russia, it went up as well, though not as significantly as export – by only 10%. Russian rolled metal products, grains, seeds and oilseeds, industrial equipment, spare parts and components for machinery, textile raw materials were supplied to Belarus through the exchange," Aleksandr Bashliy said.
In 2024 companies from 34 countries concluded deals at BUCE. In terms of turnover the top five trading partners of Belarus were Russia, China, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates.