Lukashenko on stockpiles: we need to go to other countries, we cannot sit in one or two markets

It is necessary to enter new markets for the supply of Belarusian products. This was stated by the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko at a meeting with the leadership of the Council of Ministers, a BELTA correspondent reports.

During the meeting, Alexander Lukashenko inquired about the availability of warehouse stocks at enterprises. According to the President, the current situation is alarming, and he wants to understand the seriousness of this issue.

Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko noted that there is a problem with the sale of certain types of dairy products. Products worth almost $400 million are in warehouses. According to him, this situation is primarily due to the price factor in foreign markets, as well as the growth in productivity in the main market - Russia.

"But specialists say that this is not tragic, it is a temporary phenomenon: the price in the Chinese and generally in the Asian market has started to rise. And in general, we are working on changing our strategy for the development of the dairy and milk processing industry," said Roman Golovchenko.

The head of state emphasized that one should not focus on one or two markets; it is necessary to go to other countries. "Do not forget that the world is hungry. And any state will spend its last money to feed people. Recently, Leonid Konstantinovich Zayats (Deputy Prime Minister. - BELTA note) returned from Zimbabwe, with whom we have good relations. How much milk do they consume per person per year?" the President inquired.

"Eight kilograms," noted Leonid Zayats.

"Eight kilograms per person! And us?" the head of state asked.

"Three hundred and fifty," the Deputy Prime Minister provided the statistics.

"They have nothing to feed their children with. And I promised that we (this is not charity) will help them. My point is: we should not only wait for prices to rise among our neighbors, that's understandable, but we need to go to other markets. We need to occupy these markets, and they will gladly cooperate with us," Alexander Lukashenko is convinced. "We went to Zimbabwe - and other countries are already offering them something today. They say: 'No, we will work primarily with the Belarusians, because in one year they made it so that we fed the people with bread.' They had no bread. Our equipment, technologies, people went, showed. In a year, more or less, they provided themselves with bread. Now they need milk. So dry this milk - load it, take it there."

At the same time, the President believes, it is necessary not only to export dry milk but also to build small processing plants in other countries and produce other types of dairy products. "We need to go to other markets, we cannot sit in one or two markets today," he emphasized.

"Following the same scheme, a project to create such production in China is currently in the final stage. This is an absolutely correct strategy. The only thing is that the economy does not always allow for the creation of such production. But on the whole, this is an absolutely correct strategic task. We must still remain in the key Russian market for us, increase sales margins and go where we are competitive in terms of price for producing dairy products there," said Roman Golovchenko.

Source: www.belta.by