The first deals for the export of meat by-products to Azerbaijan have been registered at the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE). The total volume of purchases for two deals amounted to 18 tons, Report informs via BelTA.

The seller was one of the leading meat processing enterprises in the Brest region, while the buyer was an Azerbaijani trading organization specializing in importing meat and meat products for the food industry. According to BUCE, previously Azerbaijani participants mainly purchased lumber and dairy products on the exchange platform, so expanding the product range in the meat and meat products segment opens new opportunities for developing exchange trade between Belarus and Azerbaijan.

Currently, Azerbaijan ranks third after Russia and China in terms of exchange trade turnover with Belarus. In the first 10 months of this year, companies from Azerbaijan concluded exchange deals worth more than $91 million, exceeding the January-October figure of last year by 2.5 times. All of these were exports of Belarusian goods – predominantly woodworking industry products, which accounted for 90% of supplies.

“The growth in exchange sales is primarily related to the expansion of regular buyers from Azerbaijan. Their number has increased by almost one and a half times. Azerbaijani businesses are attracted to the exchange due to strong trade and economic ties between our countries, absence of language barriers, and the possibility of simplified accreditation when using the mechanism of addressed deals,” the press service reported.

OJSC Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange was established in 2004. The first trades took place in June 2005. The Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange is one of the largest commodity exchanges in Eastern Europe.

The main function of the exchange is to assist Belarusian enterprises in exporting products and help foreign companies enter the Belarusian market. The exchange trades in metal products, timber, agricultural products, industrial and consumer goods of wide nomenclature.