Export map of the Belarusian agro-industrial complex will be corrected uncritically due to sanctions - Subbotin

June 27, Minsk. The economic sanctions of the European Union will affect the agricultural sector to a lesser extent, Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Alexander Subbotin said on June 27 on the air of the TV channel, BelTA informs.

“As for the agro-industrial complex, it will affect to a lesser extent. The land is ours, we have learned to work on it,” said Alexander Subbotin. “We will have to work a little more intensely, a little more intensively. Maybe something will be corrected in our export map, but I think , it will not be critical for the agricultural sector, although I would not like to."

Speaking about the main partner - the Russian Federation, the Deputy Prime Minister noted that Belarus supplies almost $4.5 billion worth of agricultural products to this country. unified approaches to the production and preparation of food," Alexander Subbotin added.

As for restrictions, the Russian Federation imposes not cruel, but strict requirements on the quality of products, their technological characteristics, the Deputy Prime Minister noted. "This does not offend us, but rather hardens us and allows us to occupy the level of quality of production, thanks to which we have captured the markets of 116 countries in a good sense and trade in food for almost $ 6 billion around the world, including to China , where the requirements are even tougher. ", - he said. - Restrictions constantly appear, but this is a working process. We resolve claims and try to remove restrictions."

Belarus also trades intensively with China. Since 2015, deliveries to this country have increased 19 times. In 2020, almost $260 million worth of products were sold. However, for China , this figure is negligible, Alexander Subbotin noted. According to him, China's domestic demand is growing, the culture of consumption is becoming Europeanized, they are beginning to consume cheese, chilled meat, and steaks.

"We are monitoring all these trends, clearly responding to them and are trying to expand our product line, trying to rely on those products that are mass-produced in our country (yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese have won their niche in China), and, of course, to implement more intensive supplies of what we have already entered there are dry dairy products, beef meat, packaged milk . Last year there was a boom in the consumption of rapeseed oil. We adjusted and began to sell it more intensively to this market," the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Speaking about the impact of sanctions on the potash industry, he noted that in addition to the Western world, there is also the East, the Middle East, China, and the Russian Federation. "Of course, these flows will be redirected there. We are actively working to obtain certification of our fertilizers where we do not yet have, to enter the market where we have not yet reached," he said.

Continuing the topic of sanctions, the Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that "it's always bad, it's always wrong." “Probably, in the 21st century, imposing sanctions on the people and the country, which is located in the center of Europe, is monstrous, it smacks of some kind of feudalism. No matter what anyone says (that it is against the state, against individuals), the ordinary person will still suffer who goes to the store," he said.