Bogdanov on the introduction of an embargo: the market will be provided with food, and enterprises with raw materials

December 8, MINSK. The domestic market will be provided with food, and enterprises with raw materials. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food of Belarus Aleksey Bogdanov told reporters today, commenting on the Council of Ministers’ resolution No. 700 of December 6, 2021 “On the application of special measures to certain types of goods.”

From January 1, in response to sanctions , Belarus introduces a food embargo on a number of goods from states that carry out unfriendly actions against our country. “Belarus has been building a policy to ensure food security on its own for a long time. We managed to achieve this more than 10 years ago. We are fully self-sufficient in the MEAT and dairy group of goods and have significant EXPORT potential. For example, producing almost 8 million tons of dairy products per year ", we export 4.8 million tons to foreign markets in 58 countries of the world. That is, there is a double stock and even more for dairy products. The same situation with meat: 32% of the total production is export potential. Therefore, the stock is huge," - said Alexei Bogdanov.

According to him, almost all meat and dairy products on the shelves are domestically produced. "These goods will not disappear anywhere, they were, are and will be. And only the range and volume of products will expand according to our plans. The consumer will not feel any changes in terms of shelf saturation. We produce the same sausages and cheese in very large volumes" - said the deputy minister.

He also touched upon the issue of providing processing enterprises with raw materials. "We have quotas within the EAEU for pork, poultry meat. We import 90% of such goods from countries that are not included in the list. For example, we imported only 4% of beef from Europe, the rest came from other countries. As for pork "Last year, we imported most of it from RUSSIA. There are no problems with substitution here. And we ourselves add poultry, beef, pork, and dairy products in production volumes every year. The share of imports is getting smaller every year," said Alexey Bogdanov.

“As for vegetables and fruits, the share of domestic products on the shelves is from 60% to 90%, depending on the type. Of course, in the off-season we import some vegetables and fruits. But we don’t expect any problems here either. Many goods that were imported from the EU , were in transit. Therefore, our commercial structures that are engaged in imports need to quickly reorient themselves directly to manufacturers. It may even be cheaper than through some intermediary that used to be in Europe. Of course, this will also be an impetus for our producers and investors to increase the production of vegetables and fruits in our country, lay new orchards," the deputy minister said.

According to him, the food embargo will not affect export plans either. The export of Belarusian food products and agricultural raw materials in January-October 2021 increased by 14.1%, goods were delivered abroad in the amount of about $5.4 billion. By the end of the year, a figure of more than $6 billion is expected.

As reported, the import ban from January 1 applies to a number of goods from the European Union and its member states, the United States of America, CANADA, Norway, Albania, Iceland, North Macedonia, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Switzerland.

The list of prohibited goods includes pigs, cattle meat, pork, a number of offal, salted meat, in brine, dried or smoked meat, food meal from meat or meat offal, MILK and dairy products (with some exceptions), vegetables, except for those intended for seeds, fruits and nuts, pig fat and poultry fat, cattle, sheep or goat fat, lard stearin and other animal oils, sausages and similar products, confectionery, SALT and other products. The decree will not affect goods imported by Belarusians for personal consumption, as well as intended for baby food, and a number of other items of critical import.