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18 October 2018, 14:34

Plans to export more Belarusian cement via commodity exchange in 2019

MINSK, 18 October (BelTA) – As much as 10% of the total amount of cement Belarus exports will be available for purchase via OAO Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE) as from 1 January 2019, BelTA learned from BUCE Press Secretary Roman Yaniv.

According to the source, starting 1 January 2019 roughly 200,000 tonnes per annum or 10% of the total amount of cement Belarus exports will be available for purchase via OAO Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange. The agreement was reached as a result of the first session of the exchange committee on cement in BUCE's HQ.

By selling cement via the commodity exchange, Belarus will be able to diversify target markets as much as possible.

According to Vladimir Kiselev, Director General of the holding company Belarusian Cement Company, the company is ready to sell any amount of cement via the commodity exchange and 10% is only the beginning. “It is important for us to get the top price. If the commodity exchange can do it for us, we are ready to sell even all the cement this way. I see no problem with it. Moreover, a test sale in September indicated that the mechanism works and our products are in demand. We hope that cement sales via the commodity exchange will help smoothen seasonal price spikes and increase our export proceeds.”

Participants of the session discussed ways to attract foreign buyers and transport the cement sold via the commodity exchange. In particular, there are plans to deliver cement made by OAO Krasnoselskstroymaterialy to Poland by trucks. Four Polish companies have already been accredited by OAO BUCE for this purpose.

Summing up results of the session, BUCE Deputy Chairwoman of the Board Irina Narkevich said she was confident that cement sales were only the first step and the commodity exchange will be used to sell a broad variety of Belarusian construction materials in the future. “The exchange trade mechanism is universal and can be used to sell any commodity. If we manage to handle cement sales well, there will be no problems with selling other civil engineering industry products. We will just have to tweak the software,” said Irina Narkevich.

The first batch of cement was sold via OAO Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange on 7 September 2018. Six buyers from Russia, Ukraine, and Baltic states took part in the trading session and submitted bids for buying a total of 4,000 tonnes of portland cement. The trading session lasted for slightly more than one hour. A Lithuanian company bought 256 tonnes of cement as a result.

In line with Belarus' Council of Ministers' resolution No.649 of 8 September 2018 all the off-exchange deals to export cement worth €2,500 and more will have to be registered with OAO Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange as from 10 December 2018.

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