MINSK, 7 August (BelTA) – Chinese companies have increased purchases of sawn timber at the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange by 2.5 times, BelTA learned from the BUCE press service.
“In January-July 2023, Chinese companies purchased more than 195,000 cubic meters of sawn timber at the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange, which was 2.5 times more than in the same period in 2022. A total of 54,000 cubic meters, or 28% of the total, were sold using the mechanism of targeted transactions introduced at BUCE in June 2023 in order to make exchange trading more attractive for foreign participants,” BUCE said.
Such statistics were cited by a BUCE delegation during a presentation of the Belarusian commodity exchange platform at the international timber forum in Taicang, Jiangsu Province, China. The event brought together the largest timber importers who use the container port of Taicang transshipping goods from all over the world, including Belarus.
During the visit to Taicang, the BUCE delegation also held talks with the management of Taomu (Suzhou) Information Technology Co. and visited its warehouse complex. This company has the status of a BUCE broker in China and almost tripled purchases of Belarusian sawn timber from 28,900 cubic meters to 81,200 cubic meters in January-July 2023.
According to BUCE, the growing interest of Chinese buyers in the exchange mechanism is associated with a more flexible pricing policy by domestic exporters, additional services and guarantees provided by the Belarusian trading platform.
“Suppliers from many countries compete for access to the vast and solvent Chinese market, and a price is often a decisive factor, especially against the backdrop of weak demand from the main consumers – enterprises in the construction industry. Therefore, in order to strengthen their position in China, Belarusian sellers have become more willing to make concessions to buyers, offer more convenient terms of delivery and payment.
When working through the exchange, buyers from China are offered the one-stop-shop principle that suggests receiving goods, logistics, settlements in yuan, control over the execution of transactions and consulting support in Chinese. All this helps attract Chinese residents to exchange trading. At the moment, 131 companies are accredited with us. This is 30 more than at the beginning of the year,” the press service said.
Founded in 2004, the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange conducted its first trading session in June 2005. BUCE is one of the largest commodity exchanges in Eastern Europe. Its main function is to assist Belarusian enterprises with export and foreign companies with entering the Belarusian market. BUCE sells a wide range of metal, forestry, and agricultural products, industrial and consumer goods.