MINSK, 22 September (BelTA) - The Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE) has presented the potential of its import substitution platform and its opportunities for companies from Volgograd Oblast to enter the markets of Belarus and third countries at an international forum in Volgograd, BelTA learned from the BUCE press service.
The forum was attended by top managers of exporting companies, transport and logistics companies and communication agencies, as well as experts in foreign economic activities, representatives of business associations and diplomatic corps from Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and India. The presentation of the import substitution platform featured its main functions, algorithm of participation in bidding, procedure of bids submission, the most popular commodity items and the structure of participants. It was noted that the exchange trading platform is in high demand among the residents of the Russian Federation, who, according to statistics, are the most active users of the import substitution service among other foreign companies.
“The platform has been operating for about four months, but during this relatively short period it has already managed to win the trust of Russian business, not only as an alternative entry point to the Belarusian market but also as a risk hedging tool for the purchase of import substitution goods in third countries,” said Deputy Head of the Foreign Economic Activity Department at the BUCE German Puzyrny. In June-August the sum of transit transactions, executed by Russian companies on the import substitution platform, reached almost $5 million. For comparison, during the same period of the previous year the sum of such transactions on the whole exchange made about $1,5 million. In other words due to the introduction of the import substitution service the index of transit sales increased more than in three times.
The BUCE representative also drew attention to the fact that Russian companies have recently begun to place orders for the manufacture of analogues of the sanctioned products, which positively affects the development of industrial cooperation between Belarusian and Russian business entities.
Founded in 2004, the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange conducted its first trading session in June 2005. BUCE is one of the largest commodity exchanges in Eastern Europe. Its main function is to assist Belarusian enterprises with export and foreign companies with entering the Belarusian market. BUCE sells a wide range of metal, forestry, and agricultural products, industrial and consumer goods.
An estimated 7,900 transactions for a total amount of Br57.1 million have been conducted on the BUCE import substitution platform since 27 May 2022. Companies from the CIS countries and China participate as buyers and sellers in the bidding.
The export forum is an annual event run by the Export Support Center of Volgograd Oblast as part of the national projects “Small and medium-sized businesses and support of individual entrepreneurial initiatives” and “International cooperation and export” with the support of the Ministry of Economic Development and the Committee for Economic Policy and Development of Volgograd Oblast.
