Business news

MINSK, 3 November (BelTA) - Belarus plans to export $2 billion worth of dairy products and over $800 million worth of meat products, Aleksei Bogdanov, the head of the main department for foreign economic affairs at the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry, said in an interview with the BelRos TV channel, BelTA has learned.

Belarusian dairy products are sold into 23 countries, meat products into 18 countries. “Thirty-six dairy factories have been certified to supply goods to the Chinese market. The exports to that country surged 20 times this year as against the same period a year prior. We believe that this is the right way and encourage our producers to explore new markets in South-East Asia, the Gulf and in Africa,” Aleksei Bogdanov said.

Belarus exports food to more than 60 countries. “The lion's share of our exports goes to the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, primarily to the Russian Federation. The Made in Belarus brand enjoys the stable customer loyalty in in the Russian Federation. This brand sells well, and we value our Russian consumers,” Aleksei Bogdanov said. At the same time, Belarus has been working on export diversification and the share of the Russian Federation in the total volume of Belarusian agricultural export has reduced by 4% this year, he stated.

Aleksei Bogdanov also commented on the course of inspections that Rosselkhoznadzor conducted at Belarusian vegetable industry enterprises last week. “No serious complaints were filed,” he informed. Now the Belarusian side is waiting for a report from the Russian colleagues following the inspections.

Aleksei Bogdanov recalled that the Russian restrictions remain in place against over 20 Belarusian enterprises. “These are partial restrictions. We are working together with our partners from Rosselkhoznadzor to have all these restrictions removed. This is a normal constructive work, on a daily basis. We are working closely and have reached common understanding on many things. But there are things that we disagree on. Everything is being discussed in a routine manner,” he noted.