In 2017, Belarus began exporting agricultural products to 17 new countries.

In 2017, Belarus began exporting agricultural products to 17 new countries, as reported to BelTA by Aleksei Bogdanov, Head of the Main Department for Foreign Economic Activities of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of Belarus.

"Belarusian agricultural products were exported to 68 countries in 2017. Among them are 17 new markets: Bahrain, Indonesia, Yemen, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Oman, Egypt, Madagascar, Austria, Finland, and others. For 11 months of 2017, agricultural products worth $9.2 million were supplied to Qatar, $4 million to Mongolia, $0.65 million to Nepal, $2.3 million to Oman, $1.5 million to Syria, and over $300,000 to Egypt. According to operational data, organisations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food exported products worth $2.4 billion in 2017, which is 4.6% more than in 2016. If we talk about agricultural product supplies by all market players, we forecast that export figures will be around $5 billion," said Aleksei Bogdanov.

For 11 months of 2017, the export of Belarusian dairy products to China increased 7.5 times in physical terms compared to the same period in 2016. "We supplied 13,000 tonnes of dairy products worth $5.7 million. In total, supplies from enterprises of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food to China for 11 months exceeded $8.8 million, which is 3% more than in the corresponding period of 2016. Moreover, the structure of commodity exports has changed: if in 2016 raw materials prevailed, now finished products are predominant. In 2018, we plan to expand the range of goods supplied to China, in particular, we intend to actively work on promoting Belarusian cheeses and other finished dairy products to the Chinese market. In addition, two Belarusian meat processing plants have opened for beef supplies, and we plan to start supplies this year," noted the Head of the Main Department for Foreign Economic Activities.