Фото: Пул первого
Aliaksandr Lukashenka again stressed during a report by Chairman of the State Customs Committee Uladzimir Arlouski that he has no available volumes of potash fertilizers for supplies to Western countries. He made the statement in the context of redirecting Belarusian exports amid sanctions.
“These crude economic attacks by the European Union countries and the West as a whole have not gone away. The flow of goods is being redirected to the East. Are we managing to do it or not? What problems are there in this regard?” he asked Arlouski.
“As far as I have been informed by the prime minister and the government, we have managed to redirect our trade to the East. The negotiations with the Americans are evidence of that. And as many people here shout: ‘Oh, potash!’ Even if we wanted to supply something to other markets, Western markets, we simply do not have those volumes. Everything is under contract,” he continued.
On September 11, Lukashenka said at the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground that the loading of a vessel carrying potash fertilizers for the United States was nearing completion. At the same time, he stressed that Belarusian potash for this year was under contract, but some volumes had become available and had been sent to the United States.
It should be noted that China’s imports of Belarusian potash fertilizers have indeed increased this year. In January-August, according to Chinese customs statistics, 2.58 million tonnes of potassium chloride worth $903.7 million were imported from Belarus. In volume terms, supplies increased by 74.9%, while their value rose 2.2-fold.
During today’s report, Lukashenka also noted that customs revenue had increased by 3.5% over the first eight months of the year. He asked about the situation on the Russian route, where a system for advance notification of goods shipments has been introduced.
“How, in connection with the reorientation to the East, do the measures taken by the Russian Federation to protect its market, the so-called SPOT, affect us? In general terms, of course, I am following the situation and have been informed that you have managed to establish good relations, if I may put it that way, with Russia regarding the introduction of these measures by the Russian Federation. And our freight flows and our carriers are not experiencing any serious problems. That is good.
How is the customs infrastructure operating in the eastern, southern and western directions? What needs to be done, perhaps, to make its operation more efficient?
And the supply of goods from countries that are unfriendly to us. This is related to the sanctions they have imposed against Belarus, these sanctioning countries. What is the situation here? And a number of questions that you wanted to ask me during your report,” he said.
Arlouski reported that 85% of Belarusian exports and imports are now directed eastward, primarily to China, other Asian countries and Russia.