MINSK, 8 September (BelTA) - Our task is to ensure maximum saturation of the domestic market with Belarusian products, Belarusian Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade (MART) Aleksei Bogdanov said at the Trade Dialogue international forum in Minsk on 8 September, BelTA has learned.
“All market players have a common task which is to provide domestic consumers with diverse and affordable products. We need to take into account the interests of all categories of buyers. To do this, all parties need to look for compromises and converge positions. We have organized the Trade Dialogue forum today to get the whole trade of our country together: the majority of manufacturers, importers, and suppliers, as well as our public catering industry: restaurants and cafes. The agenda includes issues such as to increase the share of domestic product sales, improve quality and service, and develop trade in rural areas,” said Aleksei Bogdanov.
“Our task is to ensure maximum saturation of the domestic market with Belarusian products, increase the presence of domestic goods on store shelves. Over the past decade, the percentage of representation and sales of our goods in retail has been gradually declining. In H1 2022 we managed to reverse the trend. The volume of domestic products in retail trade increased by 1.1%. We increased sales in 22 food and 11 non-food items. We will continue this trend further,” the minister stressed.
According to Aleksei Bogdanov, the national food security doctrine states that domestic products should occupy 80-85% of the store shelf. “If we take the food sector, then we are close to this indicator here. Now it is 77%, and for some items (meat, milk, eggs, flour and confectionery) we are actually close to 100% and have great export potential. In the non-food sector we are at 41.3%. We will have to make improvements in this part. In particular, these are the goods of light industry and industrial production, such as TV sets and refrigerators. In the first half of the year we have already increased the sales of refrigerators and electrical appliances,” he said.
The forum will also address issues of improving the quality of service in stores, restaurants, cafes, etc. “There are more than 2,000 subjects registered in the public catering sector. More than 200 public catering facilities opened in H1 2022. Another block of questions we are to discuss is related to the thesis stated by the president – urban standards for the rural areas. This means that trade must improve the quality of services and expand its presence in rural areas,” the minister said.
As for import substitution, the MART annually conducts an analysis of statistics, market conditions and identifies those commodity groups in the food and non-food sectors which need to be replaced and to which manufacturers need to pay attention. A group of 377 positions has already been formed. It is available on the MART website.
