In March told about the current tasks of the industry

Increasing the share of domestic goods, regulating the rules of online trade, improving services in the countryside - such tasks are a priority of the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade. This was told by the deputy head of MART Svetlana Korotkevich during the International Forum “Trade Dialogue”, which brought together manufacturers, retailers and representatives of government agencies on one platform. The participants discussed what a successful shelf formula consists of, what the consumer needs, how to find reserves for the growth of the domestic assortment and build relationships between networks and suppliers. Details were found by the correspondent “R”.

Trade for many years remains one of the main links in the formation of the country's budget - the industry ranks second in the structure of GDP, and retail turnover is constantly increasing. In January - July 2026, it amounted to 64.8 billion rubles. A number of factors influenced this, including the growth of incomes of the population, the availability of goods and the mood in society. Thus, food products for seven months of this year were sold by 29.3 billion rubles, in comparable prices - by 4.7 percent more than in January - July 2025. And non-food products - by 35.5 billion rubles, which is 11 percent more than the same period last year.

The increase in sales is facilitated by a large-scale network of retail facilities of various formats and accessories. In particular, the country has more than 117,000 retail facilities, including almost 51,400 stores. It is noteworthy that about 65 percent of stores belong to network structures - there are more than 6 thousand such organizations in the country. At the beginning of 2026, 19 large retail chains accounted for 46 percent of grocery stores and 71.5 percent of retail space.

Svetlana Korotkevich. The state is forced to limit the monopolization of the market by retail chains so that they do not displace small and medium-sized businesses, as well as to protect the interests of consumers, maintain healthy competition and balance in the market, Svetlana Korotkevich said.

Particular attention is paid to rural trade. Presidential Decree No. 277 “On the development of trade, catering and consumer services in rural areas and small urban settlements” is aimed at improving the quality of service for villagers. For Belkoopsoyuz and business, the scope of preferences for working in the hinterland has been significantly expanded. The Deputy Minister also said that over the past seven years, the share of online trade in the retail turnover of the country has increased by 10 percent. At the end of 2025, it was 14.1 percent. And this despite the fact that the number of online stores during this time decreased from 30 to 23.7 thousand.

- We saw the growth of online sales during the pandemic, the rhythm of life contributed to the preservation after this - such shopping is convenient and saves time, the representative of MART commented on the trends.

She named the products that are most often purchased in virtual stores. A quarter of purchases are clothing, 16 percent are electrical appliances and tools, almost 7.5 percent are parts and accessories for vehicles, 6.7 percent are construction materials. In addition, Belarusians often order online perfume and cosmetics, toiletries, household goods.

According to MART forecasts, the share of online retail can grow to 30 percent by 2030 – the dynamics add marketplaces. Therefore, work is underway on a draft law on digital platforms. It is expected that the document will lay the legal basis for the functioning of not only online trading platforms, but also aggregators of taxis, delivery services and other companies that are currently outside the legal field. Special emphasis will be placed on equalizing approaches to the work of foreign and domestic organizations in the Internet segment, as well as establishing, if not the same, then the closest rules of the game in online and offline trade.

- Yes, it will be difficult and not fast, but the whole world is on this path, said Svetlana Korotkevich.

It is planned that by the end of the year the bill will be submitted to the Government. There should be more talk about saturation of the market with domestic goods. At the end of the year, their share in sales should be 58 percent, at least 63 percent by the end of the five-year period. The trend of a prolonged decline in the indicator was stopped and turned towards growth. At the same time, there are positions, the disadvantage of which causes some misunderstanding. For example, in the first seven months of this year, our mineral fertilizers lost their positions in sales by 18 percent.

According to the Deputy Minister, Belarus has sufficient industrial potential to provide various buyers with these products.

- Yes, we have to buy sea fish. But mineral fertilizers are not a commodity that needs to be purchased abroad in large quantities. For the assortment, it is probably necessary, but we are able to produce this type of product ourselves. Manufacturers must find their niche and satisfy the full need of the trade application, Svetlana Korotkevich noted.

For better cooperation, MART and 1,100 trade organizations and manufacturers voluntarily signed an agreement to increase sales of domestic goods. Each participant pledged, in particular, to increase the share of Belarusian in the implementation structure by at least 1 percent annually. Similar agreements exist in the agreement of the regulator with seven major Internet platforms. They also pay special attention to the positioning of domestic products. One of the recent measures concerns increasing the implementation of the mandatory minimum assortment exclusively at the expense of its products - this norm is laid down in the decree of MART No. 48. In fact, the document allows to increase the representation of Belarusian products – the move is for manufacturers who must fill this place with a demanded product.

The consumer credit program contributes to the growth of demand for Belarusian non-food products. According to the resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 992 of December 29, 2023, citizens can buy 35 varieties of domestic production at 4% per annum. The amounts and terms are indicated in the credit product of Belarusbank “For native goods”. As of the beginning of September, more than 300 thousand loan agreements for the purchase of Belarusian were concluded, loans for 1.3 billion rubles were issued. In particular, in 2026, more than 79 thousand pieces of furniture, more than 19.3 thousand wooden windows and doors, 8.5 thousand units of ceramic tiles, more than 5 thousand gas or electric stoves, dishwashers, 3.8 thousand refrigerators and freezers, 3 thousand units of plumbing equipment, almost 3 thousand metal doors were sold. As well as almost 2.3 thousand motoblocks, almost 2.1 thousand motorcycles and scooters, a little more than 2 thousand house kits, about 2 thousand bicycles and mopeds, almost 1.5 thousand washing machines and even 117 vouchers in the sanatorium.

It is noteworthy that in the off-season of 2026-2027, greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers will also be included in the products of stabilization funds. These vegetables were included in the state order, so that domestic products were primarily to saturate the domestic market, which will meet demand at the expense of its own and form relatively predictable prices for products sensitive to the population.

The work will be hard, it will be a trial step. We will see how we work, said Svetlana Korotkevich.

COMMENTARY ON THE TOPIC

Nikolai Leshik, head of the main department of crop production of the Ministry of Agriculture:

A strategy for the development of the greenhouse economy of the country has been formed. There are programs, sources of funding have been identified for the projects being implemented, and organizations have started implementing them. This is primarily the agricultural plant "Zhdanovichi", OJSC "DorOrs", Minsk vegetable factory. In the off-season, Belarusian producers fully provide the domestic market with fresh cucumbers. As for tomatoes, we have so far been able to produce them within 40 percent. But with the introduction of new high-efficiency greenhouse complexes, which is scheduled for December 2026, and this is the next off-season period, we will practically be able to close the need for domestic tomatoes.

As for apples, the country is expected to have a pretty good harvest. Anomalous phenomena that degrade the quality, such as hail, extreme heat fluctuations, did not occur - the apple grew in a marketable form. We annually plant more than 1,000 hectares of modern drip irrigation gardens with winter varieties in demand, in order to further saturate the shelves of our distribution networks not only from autumn to May, but also to ensure their safety until the new harvest. In general, the saturation of the domestic market with domestic apples is developing positively. We expect that in two years we will be able to cover the demand of the domestic market only at the expense of the Belarusian apple.

druk@sb.by