Projects
Government Bodies
Flag Friday, 29 March 2024
All news
All news
Economy
23 June 2015, 18:57

Concern over decreased share of Belarusian goods in retail sales

MINSK, 23 June (BelTA) – The decrease in the share of Belarusian goods in retail sales registered in the last few years is a reason for concern. During the session of the Council of Ministers Presidium on 23 June Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov gave instructions to increase the share of Belarusian goods in retail sales, BelTA has learned.

Participants of the meeting also discussed measures being taken in Belarus to implement industry-wide and region-wide import substitution programs and measures meant to replenish the domestic market with Belarus-made goods.

Andrei Kobyakov reminded that import substitution efforts in Belarus are carried out in accordance with the scheme approved by the head of state in October 2008. These measures are applied to more than half of non-energy imports. The scheme is also used to implement investment projects aimed at modernizing the production sector. It was noted that since 2008 Belarusian enterprises have mastered the production of virtually all the machines and equipment that agriculture requires. Apart from that, a wide choice of new construction materials is now manufactured. The efforts resulted in a 53% decrease in polished glass import and a 45% decrease in gypsum plasterboard import in 2015 alone.

The Prime Minister stated: “Results were indeed achieved in the past years but they are not sufficient for us. Merchandise import is still rather high.” In the last four years consumer import rose by 72%. In particular, the import of furniture increased by 120%, soap – 290%, cars – 34%, medications — 44%.

“I am seriously concerned about the falling share of Belarusian goods in retail sales — down from 77% in 2010 to 70% in Q1 2015. The share of non-foods dropped from 65.4% to 50.9%,” continued the Belarusian head of government.

In particular, since 2010 the share of Belarus-made TV sets in retail sales dropped from 76% to 12%. The share of refrigerators and freezers dropped from 76% to 65%, washing machines — from 42% to 34%. This year the share of Belarusian sugar-based confectionery has decreased by 2.4%, with the share of mineral water down by 6.3% and the share of non-alcohol beverages down by 2.6%. “All these positions on the home market must be recovered,” stressed Andrei Kobyakov. He instructed Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko to closely monitor the effort since he has been the one in charge of overseeing import substitution efforts in Belarus all these years.

The Belarusian head of government said he believes that the Trade Ministry should work harder with major retailers and manufacturers as well as the entire retail industry. “It is necessary to come up with a smoothly operating system that will function with minimal administrative interference,” said the Prime Minister. “More various good-quality and affordable Belarus-made goods should be available in retail. Every product made in Belarus should be made available while consumers will make the choice,” said Andrei Kobyakov.

Andrei Kobyakov stressed that the high quality of Belarus-made goods, the wide choice, competitive pricing, positioning on the market and advertising are the most effective instruments for winning the market today. In his opinion, Belarusian manufacturers are slow to respond to emerging market trends. They also weakly respond to requirements of the retail industry. “The potential of self-employed businessmen is poorly used while they represent a well-prepared, accessible retail network,” summed up the head of government.

Subscribe to us
Twitter
Recent news from Belarus