MINSK, 22 March (BelTA) – The Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE) has seen the first exchange deal to sell import-substituting products by a company residing in China, BUCE Press Secretary Roman Yaniv told BelTA.
The Chinese company sold a pilot batch of cutter wheels used to cut pipes. The seller is a major supplier of equipment, spare parts, and components used by steelmaking industry, cement industry, and power engineering industry from Qingdao, Shandong Province, China. The goods were bought by a Belarusian metallurgical company. The transaction expanded the list of countries, which residents sell their products to Belarus via the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange’s import substitution service. At present the list includes eight countries.
According to the BUCE press service, products of Chinese make are broadly represented at the industrial goods and consumer goods platform and are regularly bought by Belarusian and Russian companies, including via the import substitution service. They have been unable to buy such goods directly from Chinese companies up till now and therefore the economic effect of exchange trade was below maximum. This is why the arrival of a Chinese manufacturer of import-substituting products can be viewed as a new milestone in the development of exchange trade with China.
According to the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange, companies residing in China, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan sold import-substituting products via the BUCE’s industrial goods and consumer goods platform in 2024. In particular, Russian companies sell industrial equipment, tools, electric components and light-emitting diodes while Tajik and Uzbek companies sell cotton yarn. The value of import substitution deals with non-Belarusian companies has totaled $2.2 million so far this year, 2.5 times up from Q1 2023.
