MINSK, 11 June (BelTA) - In January-May 2024 the amount of transactions made by resident companies of the Russian Federation reached $351 million, up by 4.5 times year-on-year. Belarusian exports accounted for 79% of exchange trade. The top five regions in terms of the amount of exchange contracts included Moscow Oblast, Leningrad Oblast, Smolensk Oblast and Yaroslavl Oblast and the Republic of Tatarstan, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE).
Tatarstan actively purchased Belarusian dairy products - butter and milk powder. In value terms, the import of dairy products to this region amounted to $12.5 million. All in all, companies from 45 regions of Russia made transactions at BUCE in January-May of this year.
"The Russian Federation is a key market for Belarusian sellers via the exchange. In January-May, Russia accounted for 58% of the total exchange exports, and companies from 38 regions of the Russian Federation purchased goods of domestic manufacturers. This year, agricultural products are in the greatest demand among Russian bidders. First of all, these are dairy products: butter, milk powder and rennet cheeses. These commodities account for over 80% of exchange sales to the Russian market. Russians have noticeably increased purchases of feed additives: from $0.5 million in January-May 2023 to $6.5 million in January-May 2024. As for imports, enterprises from 27 regions of Russia supplied their products to Belarus via BUCE, and the total amount of transactions increased by 14% to $71 million. Traditionally, the most popular items among Belarusian buyers were coal and products made of ferrous and non-ferrous metals," the BUCE press service said.
As of 1 June 2024, 3,852 residents of the Russian Federation, including 6 brokers, were accredited at BUCE. Since the beginning of the year, the number of Russian participants in exchange trading has increased by 7%.