Belarus’ food export revenues on the rise

The situation in foreign markets is favorable for Belarusian food exporters, Ksenia Meleshko, the head of the Directorate for Foreign Economic Activity at the Agriculture and Food Ministry, said in the project “Presidential Decisions in a Nutshell” on BelTA’s YouTube channel.

According to the expert, Belarus ramped up the agricultural output this year. Food production rose, too. "The situation is favorable in foreign markets in terms of prices, which has driven up Belarus’ food export revenues," she said.

Since the beginning of 2022, Belarus stepped up the export of meat products: dressed meat, sausages, canned meat. The export of cheese, rapeseed oil, and potatoes has been on the rise.

In terms of Belarusian regions, traditionally the largest contributors in terms of food export include Grodno Oblast, Minsk Oblast and Brest Oblast.

The geography of supplies of Belarusian food products is wide. The assortment is constantly increasing. Belarus sells its products to the CIS countries, including the Russian Federation (even its remote regions, such as Amur Oblast and Sakhalin Oblast and Primorye Territory). Belarusian products are also exported to Asian countries including the Chinese market. “This year meat products have made the biggest contribution to the growth of Belarus’ currency earnings in the Chinese market,” the head of the department said.

All in all, Belarus sells its food products to more than 100 countries.

“In addition to branching out into new markets, we are expanding the range of products on our traditional markets. For example, this year we launched the export of animal oil to Serbia, cottage cheese to Mongolia, ice cream to Jordan, and condensed milk to Saudi Arabia. These are just few of such examples,” Ksenia Meleshko stressed.

As Deputy Prime Minister Leonid Zayats stated earlier, the task is to export $7.8 billion worth of Belarusian food products this year. Looking at the incoming revenues, possibilities are high to hit the $8 billion mark.