MINSK, 16 May (BelTA) – In January-April, the amount of transactions concluded by Azerbaijani companies at exchange auctions reached $38 million, which was 14.5 times more than in the same period in 2023, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE).
The high growth rates are due to a significant increase in the supply of Belarusian sawn timber to Azerbaijan. In January-April of this year, domestic timber enterprises accredited at BUCE sold 212,000 cubic meters of sawn timber to Azerbaijani consumers. As a result, last year's export sales were exceeded by 11 times, and Azerbaijan ranked second after China in terms of timber purchases via the exchange.
"The most important factor that drove forward the exchange trade with Azerbaijan was the growing pool of active trading participants from this country. For example, in January-April of last year it was only 8-10 Azerbaijani companies that regularly concluded transactions. Now we are talking about more than 40 regular buyers. Over the year, the number of Azerbaijani residents accredited on the exchange has doubled and currently stands at 106 companies and individual entrepreneurs. The arrival of Azerbaijani business on the exchange platform is facilitated by a simple registration procedure, the absence of a language barrier, low risks and the opportunity to work with major timber companies of Belarus without intermediaries," the BUCE press service noted.
Yet the potential for cooperation between Belarus and Azerbaijan in exchange trade has not been exhausted. The range of goods involved in mutual trade is still limited.
"Today the major item in the Belarusian-Azerbaijani exchange trade is timber. This, of course, limits the opportunities for trade. Therefore, the priority task for this year and subsequent years is to diversify the commodity range with agricultural products and industrial goods. By the way, trade with China followed a similar scenario. At the initial stage, only timber was supplied to the Chinese market via the exchange, but over time, the range of exported and imported products has expanded, and now Chinese residents are active participants in the trade in all major commodities, including rolled metal, timber, dairy products, vegetable oils, industrial equipment, spare parts and components," BUCE said.
The high growth rates are due to a significant increase in the supply of Belarusian sawn timber to Azerbaijan. In January-April of this year, domestic timber enterprises accredited at BUCE sold 212,000 cubic meters of sawn timber to Azerbaijani consumers. As a result, last year's export sales were exceeded by 11 times, and Azerbaijan ranked second after China in terms of timber purchases via the exchange.
"The most important factor that drove forward the exchange trade with Azerbaijan was the growing pool of active trading participants from this country. For example, in January-April of last year it was only 8-10 Azerbaijani companies that regularly concluded transactions. Now we are talking about more than 40 regular buyers. Over the year, the number of Azerbaijani residents accredited on the exchange has doubled and currently stands at 106 companies and individual entrepreneurs. The arrival of Azerbaijani business on the exchange platform is facilitated by a simple registration procedure, the absence of a language barrier, low risks and the opportunity to work with major timber companies of Belarus without intermediaries," the BUCE press service noted.
Yet the potential for cooperation between Belarus and Azerbaijan in exchange trade has not been exhausted. The range of goods involved in mutual trade is still limited.
"Today the major item in the Belarusian-Azerbaijani exchange trade is timber. This, of course, limits the opportunities for trade. Therefore, the priority task for this year and subsequent years is to diversify the commodity range with agricultural products and industrial goods. By the way, trade with China followed a similar scenario. At the initial stage, only timber was supplied to the Chinese market via the exchange, but over time, the range of exported and imported products has expanded, and now Chinese residents are active participants in the trade in all major commodities, including rolled metal, timber, dairy products, vegetable oils, industrial equipment, spare parts and components," BUCE said.
