MINSK, 6 October (BelTA) – There is more than enough sugar in Belarus, Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Subbotin assured as he talked to reporters, BelTA informs.
Assessing the yield and the product demand on the domestic market, the deputy prime minister pointed to panic buying of certain products. “From time to time we observe this hysteria: be it apples, or cucumbers, or buckwheat, or sugar. This is becoming commonplace. This is wrong. I want to assure you: sugar is in good supply, we have it more than we need. We sell it to China, to our allies and partners in other countries, but first of all we meet the needs of the domestic market that are estimated at 360,000 tons. We have already produced 66,000 tons of sugar from the new harvest, 38,000 tons of which are in warehouses, and the rest has been delivered to stores and is on sale,” Aleksandr Subbotin said.
According to the deputy prime minister, the average daily sugar consumption in the country is about 1,000 tons, the peak consumption stands at 1,200 tons. “After someone showed some empty shelves somewhere, it prompted consumers to ‘panic buy' sugar. We started delivering 1,800 tons of sugar every day. In September we shipped 15% more sugar than in the same month last year. Sugar is well stocked,” Aleksandr Subbotin said.
The same is about buckwheat. “We are harvesting buckwheat. I think by the end of this week we will procure about 27,000-28,000 tons of unprocessed buckwheat. After that it will be processed into cereals. Every month we need about 1,500-1,700 tons of buckwheat. That is, we meet the domestic demand for this product in full. Do you remember when last year people were stocking up on buckwheat amidst lockdown fears and then they ate it actively throughout the summer and the autumn? The same will happen this time if people start panic buying food,” the vice premier concluded.
