Belarus’ commodity exchange posts trade surplus of $138m since year start

According to BUCE, residents of 36 countries are present on the exchange platform as sellers and buyers this year. The most active foreign participants are companies from Russia, China, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. These countries account for about 90% of foreign trade at the Belarusian exchange. All the top five countries demonstrate upward trends in exchange sales.

“For example, if we take our main trade and economic partner - Russia, exchange exports to this country have increased 30 times, while imports went up by 20%. Dairy products, woodworking products and construction materials are the main delivery items to the Russian market today. Imports include ferrous and non-ferrous rolled metal products, grain and industrial equipment. Cooperation with China, which ranks second in terms of transactions behind Russia, also demonstrates strong growth in exchange trade. In particular, exports increased more than nine times compared to the same period last year, while imports rose 14 times. Chinese companies mainly bought lumber, and sold metal products and components for machinery to Belarus. Azerbaijan rounds up the top three key foreign markets of BUCE. The volume of exchange transactions, made by companies from this country, increased 15 times due to regular purchases of Belarusian sawn timber products, while import contracts have not yet been concluded in 2024,” the BUCE press service said.

As of 1 May 2024, 7192 non-resident companies from 70 countries were accredited on BUCE. A total of 345 new foreign traders have joined the exchange since the start of the year.