Industry Minister Andrei Kuzniatsou, commenting on the government’s report for Belarusian television, used an argument typical of officials to explain export problems: the country has learned how to produce high-quality goods but does not know how to sell them. This time, however, he proposed a solution: recruiting younger people into marketing.
“We see that the potential is large, but our work is weak. Therefore, we are stepping up our efforts in this area. We are setting ourselves the goal of first unloading warehouses, because this is working capital for our enterprises,” he said.
In January, industrial output fell by 3.4 percent. At the same time, warehouse inventories grew by 800 million roubles over the month and for the first time exceeded 12 billion roubles. It was reported that enterprises under the Ministry of Industry failed to repatriate 500 million dollars in export revenue from abroad.
“Yes, indeed, there are such reasons as not knowing how to trade. Well, that is true. We do not have these marketing studies, proper marketing studies. We cannot present our product properly, although the products of the Republic of Belarus produced within the system of the Ministry of Industry rank at least in the top five in terms of quality. We simply do not know how to present them. And we have set ourselves the task of learning how to sell this year. And to sell to new markets, because we really became fixated on one market. That is why we got what we have,” the minister said.
Kuzniatsou noted that the Ministry of Industry wants to focus on markets alternative to the Russian one.
“Therefore, we are now actively working with the African market and countries of the far arc. There is growth — 15 percent, and in some countries even 25 percent growth year on year. But these are still figures that do not allow us to cover our traditional market. And here we already see trends toward correction. I hope that this year we will definitely improve the indicators by 2025, because we have already developed marketing strategies for our enterprises and are paying attention to them,” he said.
To meet performance targets, weekly “headquarters” meetings are held within the Ministry of Industry system. Some enterprises and holdings have been placed under “manual control” due to shortcomings in marketing.
“Well, we mainly have 21 enterprises: 17 holdings and four enterprises outside holdings, which we have now actually transferred to manual control — 20 out of the 21 enterprises. Around 15 enterprises, mainly our holdings, are under strong manual control. These include Gomselmash, Minsk Tractor Works, Minsk Automobile Plant, and Atlant, which has declined significantly. And all the enterprises I have named, again returning to the point, are those where marketing was insufficient. We see how aggressively our competitive partners act on the market, and we missed this moment a bit. But I am confident that the team is cohesive, and all personnel decisions within our enterprises have been made,” he added.
“We need to place a greater bet on youth. Because young people are creative and understand what needs to be done. Our managers have been given the task that the marketing system should consist of 80 percent youth, that is, up to 30–32 years old. Because even if we take the average age of our industry today, it is over 45 years. And the task is to reach at least 40–41 years during this five-year period, because youth is the driver of economic development,” said the 49-year-old Kuzniatsou, outlining his proposed solution.
He also noted that modernisation of production would help reduce costs and set more competitive prices. It is planned to be completed within three years.
“There is demand. There is demand for the products produced by the Republic of Belarus. But again, as you said just a minute ago, we are losing in marketing. We are losing, unjustifiably losing. This is a problem that must be fought. And there is demand for our products. They differ in both price and quality, but the most important thing is to tell, show, and convey this to our consumer,” Kuzniatsou said.
As part of promoting Belarusian goods on the Iranian market, the minister expects to remove barriers to the supply of Belarusian tractors and Minsk Automobile Plant vehicles to that country.
