BUCE registers first transaction for export of Belarusian dairy products to China

The first deal for the sale of skimmed milk powder to China – 75 tonnes worth $250,000 – was concluded at the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE)

The BUCE named the deal a trial one, aiming to work out in practice the issues of mutual settlements and logistics. It is possible that in the future the volume of purchases of Belarusian dry milk will increase. There’re also plans to organise deliveries of other dairy products – butter, cream, cheese, and whey – to the Chinese market. According to the BUCE press service, until now Chinese companies used the Belarusian stock exchange platform mainly for the purchase of lumber, which did not give the opportunity to fully realise the potential of stock exchange trade between the two countries.

“The expansion of the product line-up creates additional opportunities for increasing the volume of mutual trade, therefore, the first successful experience of exporting dry milk to China through the BUCE can be subsequently extrapolated to other dairy products presented on the exchange platform. Chinese consumers have already convinced themselves of the high quality of Belarusian dairy products by buying them on the over-the-counter market. Now it is important to attract them to the exchange trading platform, where, alongside access to leading domestic milk processors, additional services have been introduced that simplify the work of Chinese business in Belarus,” noted the BUCE press service.

According to the results of H1 2022, the stock exchange turnover of Belarus and China totalled $41m – 1.5 times up compared to the same period last year. The most sought-after Belarusian goods in China were coniferous sawn timber while Belarus primarily imported steel industry goods: rolled sheet and seamless steel pipes.