Russian importers boost butter purchases on Belarusian exchange

MINSK. Nov 14 (Interfax) - Russian importers bought more than 50,000 tonnes of butter on the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE) in January-October 2024, said German Puzyrny, deputy head of exchange's department for foreign economic activity.

"Most transactions for the purchase of agricultural products on the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange in 10M were by companies from Russia, Kazakhstan and the UAE. Total contracts for the three countries on the exchange exceeded $682 million, Russia's share being about 90%," the BUCE press service quoted Puzyrny as saying.

"As for Russia itself, the top five importers of Belarusian agricultural products by region are the Moscow, Leningrad, Smolensk and Yaroslavl regions, as well as the Republic of Tatarstan. In general, exchange deals to buy agricultural products were concluded by companies from 30 regions of our eastern neighbor. The best-selling product on the Russian market today is butter. Companies bought nearly 51,000 tonnes of butter in January-October, several times more than last year," Puzyrny said.

He also said demand for dry skimmed milk, cheeses, curd cheese, beef, wheat gluten and amino acids was also strong in Russia. Exchange transactions are concluded regularly for all these items.