Minsk provides almost every third ruble of retail turnover of Belarus

Minsk provides almost every third ruble of retail turnover of the country, and in its structure about 70% are non-food products. This was reported during a round table in the journal “Economics of Belarus” by the head of the main department of trade and services of the Minsk City Executive Committee Elena Nagornaya, BelTA writes.

The capital has practically fulfilled the task on the specific weight of domestic goods – we have 42.4 percent in the first half of the year, compared to 43 percent at the end of the year. The result is not bad, given that all foreign brands and the largest number of points of sale of marketplaces represented in the country are concentrated in the capital. When, for example, Wildberries reports on retail turnover, for certain groups it simply exceeds the performance of all other market participants. This is a given, which is very difficult to influence, but there is a plus - in Minsk there are no problems with the implementation of forecast indicators for sales growth, she said.

Elena Nagornaya explained the decrease in the specific weight of domestic food to 69 percent against 71 percent in 2025 by the fact that sales of Belarusian vegetables and fruits fell slightly, primarily due to the lack of Belarusian apples and tomatoes at the end of the off-season for the needs of shops.

“But on manufactured goods we go with a plus,” said Elena Nagornaya. Since the end of 2025, active advertising of the domestic automaker has started, the consumer was offered attractive credit products. And as a result, the share of sales of domestic cars in the first quarter of 2025 was 32 percent, a year later - 70 percent. I can cite as an example individual representatives of the confectionery industry - they constantly update the range and do not skimp on advertising, although they no longer need widespread popularization. TVs have sold well since the beginning of the year, plus 9 percentage points. At the same time, the sale of refrigerators, perfumes and cosmetics, as well as pasta products from hard wheat varieties is decreasing (as for the latter, there is a direct connection with a small range of production).

According to the head of the Main Department of Trade and Services of the Minsk City Executive Committee, much depends on the activity of the producers themselves. “Now there have been fewer promotions for PR of new products, although in precocious times they were regularly held in shopping halls,” said Elena Nagornaya. Trade is constantly offering venues, but businesses are not actively responding.”.

In some cases, the share of sales of domestic products depends on the capabilities of manufacturers. There are objective situations when domestic demand exceeds the volume of domestic goods that the market can receive. For example, demand for individual poultry meat items is not always fully met. In addition, there are products that buyers are willing to buy in almost unlimited quantities. This, for example, candy "Capital" and waffles "Black Sea", especially in the pre-New Year period.

“In the manufacture of “Capital” manual labor is used. In addition, the candy case stands for several days, only then it is glazed, it is impractical to increase the volume of their production ten times, since the priority task is to ensure the fulfillment of the maximum number of applications in the pre-New Year season. Enterprises strive to saturate the domestic market with confectionery products in full and assortment, said Anastasia Skorobogatova, head of the department for coordinating the supply of goods to the domestic market and foreign trade activities of the Belgospishcheprom concern.