MINSK, 30 March (BelTA) – China has become one of the three largest buyers of rapeseed oil at the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange, spokesman for BUCE Roman Yaniv told BelTA.

In the first quarter of 2022, China ranked third among the largest buyers of rapeseed oil at the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange. Following the increase in the number of Chinese buyers and transactions, sales of rapeseed oil to China surged by 67% in value terms year-on-year to $2.2 million. Export quotations for Belarusian rapeseed oil showed positive dynamics thanks to the favorable trends on the international market and high competition during exchange trading.

"Despite the difficult conditions for concluding export transactions, rapeseed oil still remains one of the most popular products of the agricultural group among foreign buyers. This is evidenced not only by the growth of physical sales volumes, but also by a fairly high level of prices. They rose up to €1,230 per tonne of unrefined product. Earlier the lion's share of rapeseed oil was supplied to the EU countries. Now the domestic exporters are gradually shifting their focus towards Asian countries, first of all, China. In this regard, we are focused on expanding the circle of potential buyers. Over the past two months alone, ten new Chinese companies have accredited with the exchange, including for the purpose of purchasing oilseed processing products," BUCE said.

Since the beginning of the year, 9,600 tonnes of rapeseed oil have been sold for export via BUCE for a total of $13.2 million. Major sales markets were the Baltic states, Switzerland and China.

The public joint-stock company (OAO) Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange was established in 2004. The first trade sessions took place in June 2005. BUCE is one of the largest mercantile exchanges in Eastern Europe. Its key function is to assist Belarusian companies with exporting their products and assist foreign companies with entering the Belarusian market. The commodity exchange facilitates trade in metals, timber, agricultural products, and a broad choice of industrial and consumer goods.