Deputy PM: trade flows from unfriendly countries completely redirected

There have been significant changes in Belarus’ export structure – as noted by Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Parkhomchik during his report On Ensuring Sustainable Operation of the Industrial Complex in 2023 and the Progress of Implementation of Import-Substitution Projects at a joint meeting of the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic

The Deputy PM underlined, “Trade flows from unfriendly countries have been completely redirected. Export supplies to markets of friendly countries increased by $5.6bn. Exports of machine building goods, the chemical industry items, petroleum products, textile materials and textile products have been completely reoriented.”

According to Piotr Parkhomchik, the share of friendly countries in total exports increased by 14 percent.

“The biggest growth in exports was recorded to the EAEU member states – by 18.4 percent, to the countries of Asia – by 1.5 times,” he noted. “Over nine months, exports of goods to Russia rose by 19.7 percent – more than the annual export volumes to Russia until 2022.”

Moreover, for the second year in a row, the share of Belarusian goods in Russian imports is growing in such positions as machinery, equipment and transport vehicles, seeing an increase to 6.8 percent (with an average value of 3.7 percent for 2015-2022), chemical industry products – an increase up to 6.5 percent (with an average value of 4 percent), wood products – up to 24.2 percent (with an average value of 11.6 percent), and ferrous metals and products made from them – up to 11.7 percent (with an average value of 6.5 percent).

“The draft planning documents for 2024 envisage a further increase in exports to the Russian Federation by 7 percent against the level of 2023 and maintaining the share of Russian imports of at least 9 percent,” added the Deputy PM. “Exports to the far arc countries are planned to increase by at least 12 percent.”