Business news

MINSK, 14 November (BelTA) – Belarus intends to beat last year’s volume of export of agricultural products, which was close to $5 billion, BelTA learned from Belarusian Deputy Agriculture and Food Minister Igor Brylo during a roundtable session on food security on 14 November.

In January-September 2018 Belarus already earned about $3.8 billion by exporting agricultural products or 103.5% as against the same period of last year. The export of dairy products earned about $1.5 billion, with meat products netting roughly $800 million. “We intend to surpass last year’s level,” said the official.

Belarusian agricultural products were shipped to 81 countries in 2017. Now Belarus exports agricultural products to 92 countries. The Agriculture and Food Ministry is working to gradually reduce the share of the Russian market. “In 2017 Russia accounted for 86% of the export of our products. In January-September 2018 the share dropped to 79%,” specified the deputy agriculture and food minister.

The official underscored the importance of penetrating new markets. He went on saying a lot has already been done in this regard: deliveries to the CIS states increased by 11.2% from January-September 2017, with non-CIS sales up by 8.5%. Belarus intends to diversify 7-8% of its food export every year.

Time is needed to secure Belarus’ hold on new markets: product brands need at least 2-3 years to become recognizable, but the country has that potential, believes Igor Brylo. China is a case in point. The export of Belarusian agricultural products to China increased by 4.1 times in comparison with January-September 2017.