MINSK, 11 August (BelTA) - In January-July 2021, Belarusian enterprises that made transactions on the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE) gained over Br271 million in additional revenue and saving in expenditure, which was 69% more year-on-year, BelTA learned from the BUCE press service.
The biggest beneficiaries were the companies that bought steel products and coal at BUCE. Due to lower prices during exchange trades, they were able to save Br140.4 million in expenditure, or 28% more than in January-July 2020.
Economic windfall for timber companies was estimated at Br121.2 million, which was up by 2.6 times year-on-year. This amount included additional revenue of domestic exporters of timber, chips, wooden stakes, pointed wooden poles coupled with saving in expenditure to purchase forestry services.
Agricultural enterprises also benefited from taking part in exchange trades. The amount was estimated at Br9.5 million both in additional revenue and saving in expenditure, or 2.5 times more than in January-July 2020. The biggest beneficiaries were buyers of oilseed meal and meat and also sellers of dairy products, rapeseed oil and semi-finished leather products.
"The amount of additional revenue and saving in expenditure depends primarily on the volume of exchange transactions, which in January-July increased by 74% in monetary terms to total Br4.7 billion. Bidding competition rose almost across all major commodity groups. One of the reasons was an increase in the number of foreign participants. Since the beginning of the year, 347 new non-resident companies got accredited with the commodity exchange. Among them were buyers of lumber, rapeseed oil, dairy products, cement and other Belarusian export products. The exchange accredited large foreign manufacturers of rolled metal, feed additives, plant protection agents with a view to reducing the expenses of domestic enterprises on imported raw materials. All this has yielded a significant economic effect," the BUCE press service noted.
