Trading in malting barley launched
The Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE) has started trading in malting barley: during two sessions on September 7th and 9th, one of Belarus’ major malt producers purchased 950 tonnes of products – sold by Russian companies
The previous trading session attracted 75 suppliers and, as expected, the recent transactions will become a starting point for the regular use of the exchange mechanism in the procurement of this raw material which enjoys much demand in the brewing industry.
As the BUCE press service has informed, despite a continuous expansion of the domestic raw material base and an increasing number of new varieties of Belarusian selection, our producers still have to buy significant volumes of malting barley abroad. Moreover, competitiveness of the finished product – malt – directly depends on the quality and cost of raw materials. The exchange platform gives access to leading suppliers of barley from near and far abroad, while a high level of competition during the auction makes it possible to transact on the most favourable terms.
The BUCE representatives reported that the launch of this new product line was preceded by serious preparatory work. Meanwhile, the first trading session clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of the exchange mechanism.
Importantly, buyers and sellers demonstrate interest in participating in the malting barley trading. The former can save on purchases, while the latter have an opportunity to contact major customers – as evidenced by the number of purchase and sale orders placed in the BUCE trading system.
From January-August 2021, more than 8,000 transactions with agricultural products totalling almost $370m were conducted at the BUCE. Against the same period last year, the number of transactions increased by 80 percent, and their sum – by 54 percent.
