Business news

31 Jul 2023

Minister: Belarus’ export to China might grow to $2.2b by 2023 yearend

An archive photo

MINSK, 31 July (BelTA) – Everything is in place to increase Belarus’ export to China to $2.2 billion by the end of the year, Economy Minister Aleksandr Chervyakov said in an interview with BelTA.

“In January-May the export rose by $1.8 billion, or more than 10% year-on-year. Belarus posted a surplus in trade in goods and services (plus $164.5 million),” Aleksandr Chervyakov said.

The export of goods is growing at a double-digit pace – by 13.9% over January-May 2022. “The drivers of export are consumer goods (up by 28.3%) and investment goods (up by 21.9%). That was due to the increase in physical volumes of goods. This shows that our products have found their niche in the markets of friendly nations and are still in demand. Thus, in January-May alone, deliveries to Russia amounted to $10.3 billion, which is comparable to the annual volumes in 2015 and 2016,” the minister added.

According to him, Belarus is reclaiming its market share in Russia. This year the share of Belarus in Russian imports approached 9%, which is significantly bigger than the average figure in the last 20 years, which was 5-6%.

“Sales to China have hit $1 billion, which already exceeds pre-2022 annual exports. Accordingly, everything is in place to reach the target of $2.2 billion,” the minister emphasized. “The import to our country is also growing. Most of the imported items are equipment, machinery and components”.