Belarus' food export up by 26% in January-October

According to Leonid Zayats, back in 2000 the export of food and agricultural raw materials was estimated at about $500 million, while by the end of 2021 this figure soared more than 13 times to hit a record of $6.7 billion. Food products and agricultural raw materials account for about 20% of Belarus' export. In the early 2000s, their share was about 7%. “In January-October 2022 we exported more food than in the entire year 2021, the export amounted to $6.8 billion, up almost 26% year-on-year. By the end of 2022, we expect export revenues to exceed $8 billion in equivalent. The increase is attributed to high prices for most of our commodity items in foreign markets, as well as the growth of the volume of natural export,” said Leonid Zayats.

In real terms, the export of meat and meat products increased by 5.3%, of which the export of sausage products grew by 16%, the export of other meat products rose by more than 40%. The export of rapeseed oil expanded by 20%, that of animal oil, cheese and cottage cheese rose by more than 3%, potatoes by 7%. Compared to the same period in 2021, the average export prices for meat products increased by 30%, dairy products by 33%, potatoes by 19%, vegetables and mushrooms by 7%, flour by 26%, rapeseed oil by 29%.

“The favorable situation on the foreign market has had a positive impact on the financial performance of domestic producers of foodstuffs. This allows curbing the growth of food prices in the domestic market this year,” the deputy prime minister emphasized. The number of loss-making companies in 2022 decreased 1.7 times year-on-year.