Belarus' commodity exchange to make it easier for domestic consumers to buy Russian metal

As part of efforts to streamline exchange trading in metal products between Belarus and the Russian Federation, BUCE plans to establish close cooperation with steel service centers (SMCs) in the regions of Russia, providing them with direct access to Belarus' largest metal consumers. Such plans were voiced by Head of the Department for Metal Products at BUCE Yevgeny Bureiko during the presentation of the Belarusian commodity exchange at the 13th edition of the international conference “Russian Steel Service Centers: Equipment, Technologies, Market” organized by the Russian Union of Metal & Steel Suppliers in St. Petersburg.

“We are ready to become a link between Russian SMCs and Belarusian industrial enterprises. This will help ramp up deliveries of Russian rolled metal to Belarus and make them more sustainable. This will also help resolve most of the issues related to settlements, fulfillment of obligations, logistics and quality control. Suffice it to say, that less than 1% of over 273,000 metal products transactions made since the beginning of the year were problematic. I am sure that this trend will remain in place,” the BUCE representative noted.

At the same time, Belarusian companies working with Russian SMCs through the commodity exchange will be able to purchase metal on better terms due to the absence of unnecessary intermediaries and a high level of competition in exchange trading. According to BUCE, thanks to the use of the exchange trading mechanism, Belarusian buyers of metal products saved more than Br270 million over eight months of 2022, up 1.6 times year-on-year.

The international conference “Russian Steel Service Centers: Equipment, Technologies, Market” is one of the most significant events in the metallurgical industry of the Russian Federation. Every year it gathers top managers and heads of SMCs, manufacturers of steel products, suppliers of raw materials, equipment developers, metal traders, industry unions, research institutes and R&D bureaus. This year, more than 130 companies are participating in the event.

Founded in 2004, the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange conducted its first trading session in June 2005. BUCE is one of the largest commodity exchanges in Eastern Europe. Its main function is to assist Belarusian enterprises with export and foreign companies with entering the Belarusian market. BUCE sells a wide range of metal, forestry, and agricultural products, industrial and consumer goods.