Belarusian commodity exchange, St Petersburg Currency Exchange determine cooperation prospects

The sides exchanged information, experience, and technologies in the sphere of exchange trade. Interest was expressed in establishing strategic partnership for the sake of increasing the role of exchange trade in advancing Belarus' trade and economic cooperation with Russian regions, primarily with Leningrad Oblast and its capital St Petersburg.

During negotiations with the delegation of the St Petersburg Currency Exchange Chairman of the Board of the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange Aleksandr Osmolovsky said that in 2021 Leningrad Oblast occupied the second position among regions of Russia in terms of the sum of completed deals and the third position in terms of the number of accredited companies. He said: “Certainly, we don't intend to stop and will continue working to attract more traders from St Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast to the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange. We will focus on buyers of dairy products, who actively bought Belarusian milk powder and butter in 2021, and on suppliers of extraction cakes of oil-bearing crops and feed supplements, which the animal husbandry industry actively buys. In other words, we are extremely interested in stepping up exchange trade with regions of the Russian Federation. In my opinion, we can cooperate most effectively in this sphere.”

The Russian delegation welcomed the proposal. According to Manager of the St Petersburg Currency Exchange Boris Yaryshevsky, it is now important to determine the format of cooperation, which takes into account interests of both exchanges and their long-term goals.

The head of the St Petersburg Currency Exchange stressed: “We are now working on the monetary market and the stock market but in the future we would like to become a universal exchange and trade in financial instruments and commodities. We are particularly interested in spot transactions with physical deliveries of the goods. I believe Belarus is one step ahead of Russia where the futures and options market accounts for a lion's share of the total exchange trade. This is why the experience the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange has accumulated is extremely valuable for us. In turn, we are ready to share our achievements in the area of clearing and transactions and are ready to offer our network of business contacts. Our interaction will be mutually beneficial in any case. To determine the format that suits both sides is the key.”

As a result of the meeting the sides agreed to work out possible schemes for interaction between the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange and the St Petersburg Currency Exchange taking into account development strategies of both exchanges, their technical capabilities and legislation peculiarities.

The public joint-stock company (OAO) Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange was established in 2004. The first trade sessions took place in June 2005. BUCE is one of the largest mercantile exchanges in Eastern Europe. Its key function is to assist Belarusian companies with exporting their products and assist foreign companies with entering the Belarusian market. The commodity exchange facilitates trade in metals, timber, agricultural products, and a broad choice of industrial and consumer goods.