MINSK, 16 September (BelTA) – Belarus' export of agricultural and food products in January-July 2020 grew by 6.5% as against the same period of 2019, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry.
“In January-July 2020, Belarus' agricultural and food export totaled $3.2 billion, up by 6.5%, or $196.6 million year-on-year. The deliveries of Belarus' major export commodities increased. The export of meat and meat products rose by 14.8% to $572.3 million, milk and dairy products – by 7.7% to $1,406.7 million, and sugar – by 25.1% to $98.3 million. Belarus supplied products to 101 countries,” the press service informed. In January-July 2020, dairy products were shipped to 50 countries, meat products – to 18 countries, and sugar – to 31 countries.
Belarus tapped into several new markets. It launched export of dry milk products to South Sudan, Bangladesh, and Niger, flax fiber and whey powder to India, eggs and egg products to Sierra Leone, sugar to Guinea, Djibouti, and Somalia, bread and baked products to Bahrain, alcoholic beverages to Paraguay, Cyprus, Finland, and Croatia, and malt to Sri Lanka.
Belarus' main export markets were Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Ukraine, Lithuania, Uzbekistan, and Poland. In January-July 2020, Belarus delivered $403.7 million worth of agricultural and food products to the CIS member states, with the growth rate of 152.9%. The share of the CIS countries in Belarus' total agricultural and food export was 12.5% (up by 3.8 percentage points). The share of Russia fell by 7.1 percentage points to 75.2%, or $2.4 billion. Belarus shipped $400.2 million worth of agricultural and food products to distant countries, 146.1% as against the same period of 2019. Their share was 12.4% (up by 3.4 percentage points).
“The main driver of growth was export to China, which soared by 2.7 times. Export of meat and meat products surged by 4.1 times to $67.8 million, milk and dairy products – by 2.1 times to $44 million, and export of rapeseed oil doubled and came at $10.7 million. All in all, Belarus shipped $134.5 million worth of products to China,” the press service noted.
