Business news

13 Nov 2020

Belarus' agricultural export to China may exceed $200m in 2020

An archive photo

MINSK, 13 November (BelTA) – Belarus' export of agricultural products to China may exceed $200 million by the end of the year, Aleksei Bogdanov, Head of the Central Office for Foreign Economic Activities of the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry, told a press conference on 13 November, BelTA has learned.

“China is a promising and important market for us. We are interested in gaining a foothold on this market and gradually increasing the volume and range of our export. Since 2016, 98 companies have been certified to export to China. In January-September Belarus export to China hit a record high of $187.2 million (a 2.3-fold increase). Supplies of meat to China soared 3.1 times, those of milk – 1.8 times, colza oil – 2.6 times. The volume of supplies has already exceeded the export of 2019. We hope to exceed the mark of $200 million by the end of the year,” Aleksei Bogdanov said.

In January-September 2020 Belarus increased food exports to the CIS countries (excluding Russia) and to other countries, including to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Australia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Georgia, Israel, Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, USA, Canada, Egypt, Nigeria and others. “The European Union market is the most difficult for us in terms of certification, conditions of access, competition, promotion of goods. But this year our deliveries rose by 36%. Belarus stepped up exports to Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, France, Czech Republic, Estonia,” Aleksei Bogdanov noted.

In January-September 2020 the export of Belarusian agricultural products increased by 6.1% year-on-year to total $4.2 billion. Foreign currency proceeds increased by $241.8 million. The main sales market is Russia: $3.1 billion in January-September, accounted for more than 70% of Belarus' food exports. The number of export destinations expanded to 105 countries. Belarus started exporting to 21 new markets. These are Asia (Bangladesh, Bahrain, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka), Africa (Angola, Guinea, Djibouti, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Sierra Leone), America and the Caribbean (Belize, Paraguay, Uruguay), the European Union (Cyprus, Luxembourg, Finland, Croatia).