Belarus is ready to supply 20,000 tons of beef to China annually, Aleksei Bogdanov, Head of the Central Office for Foreign Economic Activities of the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry, reported.
“In terms of beef supplies to China we are limited by the number of certified companies. For the time being there are only two of them. The Agriculture and Food Ministry is working to expand the list of such enterprises. This task is under control of the minister. As the number of companies that can supply beef to China increases, so will the volume of exports. We are potentially ready to supply up to 20,000 tons of beef to China per year,” Aleksei Bogdanov said.
Belarusian enterprises seek to enter the Chinese market with finished goods not only with raw materials.
“Of course, there are certain difficulties associated with the shelf-life of products. Today we are working actively to reduce the delivery time using rail transport. Now the dairy industry is making great headway and has started to export finished products to China, such as cheeses and packaged butter and is working to make inroads into the yogurt market. We are gradually expanding the range of products. Today there is an interest in the shipments of Belarusian canned beef to China. This issue is under consideration,” Aleksei Bogdanov said.
The first container with beef cuts of Veles-Meat Company went to China via the Silk Road railway on June 21. The batch will be delivered to Chengdu (China’s Sichuan Province). The Mogilev Meat-Processing Plant has been also certified for beef supplies to China. The company has already sent the first batch to China.
“The Belt and Road program envisages rail shipments. For the time being only two Belarusian companies have been certified to supply beef to China. We believe that this is only the beginning. The work is underway to increase Belarusian exports to China. The plans are in place to supply 60 containers of various products worth $5 million a month,” said Zhang Yi, the director general of the Chinese trade and investment company Great Silk Road.
In January-April the export of Belarusian farm products to China went up 1.9-fold, to $9.3 million. (BelTA/Business World Magazine)