Business news

MINSK, 12 December (BelTA) – Belarus has become the first country in the CIS and 13th in the world that have been authorized to supply beef to the Chinese market, BelTA learned from the Belarusian Embassy in China.

Belarus’ Agriculture and Food Minister Leonid Zayats met with the head of the Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine Zhi Shuping in Beijing on 12 December. Following the meeting it was announced that two Belarusian meat processing plant got authorized to supply beef to the market of the Chinese People’s Republic. These are OAO Veles-Meat and OAO Mogilev Meat Packing Plant,” the diplomatic mission reported.

This result was achieved thanks to the well-coordinated work of the Agriculture and Food Ministry, the Belarusian Embassy in China and Chinese food security experts, the Chinese side noted during the talks. Currently, China is the world's largest importer of beef. Last year the Chinese beef import was estimated at $2.6 billion.

Following the negotiations it was announced that the market access procedure will soon be over for the leading Belarusian producers of poultry meat.

The current visit of the Belarusian minister to China aims to stimulate further development of trade in agricultural products between the two countries. The Embassy also said that a cooperation plan between the two ministries until 2020 was signed during a meeting with the senior officials of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture on 11 December.

With a view to increasing deliveries of Belarusian products to the Chinese market Leonid Zayats met with Chairman of China's largest food corporation COFCO Zhao Shuanglian. The parties reached a number of agreements.

The Belarusian delegation are set to attend a large-scale agricultural forum headlined as Made in Belarus due in Guangzhou on 13 December.