MINSK, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Belarus plans to increase its exports of agricultural and food products to China, a competitive and attractive market that offers a bright prospect, Minister of Agriculture and Food of Belarus Ivan Krupko has said.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, the minister acknowledged that Belarus also plans to expand the range of products for export, and organize export sales of food products with a high degree of processing, such as ice cream, cheese, condensed milk and yoghurt.
In 2019, Belarus' exports of food products to China amounted to 131.5 million U.S. dollars, a sixfold increase from that of 2016. Over the January-November period of 2020, exports to China totalled 238.7 million dollars, almost twice of that of the whole year of 2019, Krupko said.
The share of exports to China currently accounted for 4.5 percent of the total volume of Belarusian exports of agricultural and food products, he noted.
From 2016 to 2020, the ministry has worked on the approval of Belarusian enterprises to export to China. So far, most exporters of meat, milk, fish and other products have managed to export their goods to China.
China is a large consumer of various products, and this trend will develop. For Belarusian food export companies, this is a great opportunity to diversify their export channels, he added.
There is still a lot of work to do in order to build up the presence of Belarusian food in the Chinese market, Krupko said.
He noted that when organizing export sales to China, Belarus plans to use e-commerce as much as possible.
Krupko also said Belarus believes that cooperation with China in scientific research and education on agriculture will be promising, adding that Chinese investments in Belarus' agro-industrial complex are in the interests of both countries. Enditem
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