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Belarusian timber now sold to South Korea via commodity exchange

An archive photo

MINSK, 1 December (BelTA) – The Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange has concluded the first deal to sell sawn timber to South Korea, the BUCE press service told BelTA.

During a trade session held on 30 November a Korean importer bought a trial batch as large as 400m3 of hardwood sawn timber from a Belarusian forestry enterprise. It increased the geography of BUCE-facilitated timber sales to 17 countries.

Since South Korean companies had not participated in BUCE trade sessions before, the deal was the first experience of using exchange-facilitated trade between the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Korea.

According to the BUCE press service, in January-November 2023 foreign participants bought over 1.2 million m3 of sawn timber via BUCE or nearly two times as much as in January-November 2022. China is the top buyer. It bought 471,000m3 of sawn timber, 480% as against January-November 2022. The top five buyers of Belarusian woodworking industry products also include Azerbaijan, Russia, Singapore, and Uzbekistan. South Korea’s arrival on Belarus’ exchange-traded commodities market opens up new opportunities for Belarusian exporters. For instance, dairy products enjoy a high demand in South Korea. In particular, the country’s import of milk powder and butter is estimated at hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars. This is why BUCE expects the trial batch of sawn timber to herald the beginning of regular exchange-facilitated trade in a broad range of products between Belarus and South Korea.

At present over 6,700 non-residents from 70 countries are accredited for participation in BUCE trade sessions. South Korea is represented only by one company so far.

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