Ex-Soviet state Belarus has declared it will buy about 200,000 tonnes of Polish milk, as well as other products, the agriculture ministry says: a boon for Poland’s farmers hit by Russia’s EU embargo.
Belarus has declared it would buy about 200,000 tonnes of Polish milk, as well as other products, according to statements from Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki.
Sawicki said that he met Belarusian officials, including the country’s deputy prime minister and chief veterinary inspector, last Monday and also had the chance to talk to people running major food processing companies.
“The companies agreed to start purchases of Polish food products, both raw and processed, in order to further process them and re-export to the area of the [Russian] Customs Union or for their own needs,” Sawicki explained.
On Thursday a group of representatives of the Polish dairy, fruit and vegetable sectors will be in Belarus to discuss details of the export. So far, Belarusians have declared their readiness to buy 200,000 tonnes of milk and milk products.
“This would provide significant relief to Polish dairy producers,” the minister said. “Today we have a slight surplus in production volume and prices are falling on the market.” Next week, another group of Polish entrepreneurs will go to Minsk, this time to discuss potential investments into the food processing and distribution industries, Sawicki added.
The agriculture minister added that Russia’s embargo on Polish agricultural produce affects about 6.2 percent of Poland’s total exports, which stands for some 1.3 billion euro. “[Russia] is not our main export market, but from the perspective of some products, such as vegetables from the cabbage family, tomatoes, apples, it is a very important one,” Sawicki said.
Source: Polskie Radio - pg - PAP
http://www.thenews.pl/1/12/Artykul/180702,Belarus-to-import-Polish-food