MINSK, 8 February (BelTA) – Belarusian food products dominate the domestic market, Belarusian Minister of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade Aleksei Bogdanov said on the air of the Belarus 1 TV channel on 7 February, BelTA has learned.
According to Aleksei Bogdanov, domestic trade is built well. Visitors to the country are surprised by the variety of goods on sale and a wide choice. “The share of Belarusian food products in the domestic market is already 78%,” he said. “Last year, the share of consumer electronics fell a little bit. We are yet to analyze why this happened. The producers need to invest more in product promotion. This is joint work. The Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade and the government encourage market players to work together. Our producers and retail should become the most important and reliable partners for each other. The success hinges on this alliance.”
The minister also emphasized that retail was subjected to the toughest regulation in terms of the ceiling for markups. “Depending on the product the markups can be 10%, 15%, 20%, 30% and 40%,” he noted. “They were calculated and adjusted based on the product's lifetime and turnover. In February of last year, the sale profitability was very low, at 0.4%, but then the situation gradually improved. By the end of the year the sales profitability was more than 1.3%. The situation is normal, in general. Indeed, the number of unprofitable retail facilities has decreased.
Price controls presented an additional advantage for Belarusian producers: imports are more expensive than home-made goods. “Consumers are starting to buy more local goods. Accordingly, the volumes are growing,” the minister highlighted. “This is part of the competition, which we have today. Marketing and promotion are also very important. After all, you can make a great product, but it may remain unrecognizable for consumers. There is a wide range of goods, and it is not clear which of them is the proper one. It is important to increase the product visibility. In the Year of Quality we need to place an increased focus on product promotion.”
