For eight months of 2026, companies of Belarus and Russia concluded deals on BUCE for almost $ 1 billion

Trade cooperation in the Union State is constantly expanding. This dynamic is also seen on the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange. Read more about how the situation is developing this year, what positions in the demand leaders of companies from both countries and due to what they intend to add, said Yaroslav Kovalchuk, Head of the Department of Foreign Economic Affairs of BUCE.

- In January-August 2026, transactions totaling $925 million in equivalent were concluded between residents of Belarus and Russia accredited on the exchange. The growth rate by the same period of 2025 was 122 percent. As in the past year, Belarusian exports dominate the structure of the exchange turnover of the two countries. In the first half of the year, its share reached 87 percent in value terms.

By the way, over the past few years, Russia has been the largest market for Belarusian products through BUCE. In particular, in January-August 2026, the share of the Russian Federation in the total volume of exchange exports amounted to 55 percent. In monetary terms, this is 801.4 million dollars, which is 23 percent more than in January-August 2025.

Answering the question about what products prevail in the structure of the exchange turnover of the two countries, the interlocutor noted:

Jaroslav Kovalchuk. The key driver of growth in the volume of Belarusian-Russian exchange trade is the products of the agro-industrial complex. Its share in the structure of exchange trade between the two countries is 81 percent, or $745.8 million. 99 percent of this amount comes from Belarus.

What do neighbors buy the most? In the top sales of butter, milk powder and meat products. In the non-food segment, lumber, sheet glass, linen fiber and wet blu leather are in greatest demand. It is noteworthy that in comparison with last year, the volume of transactions for all listed items increased. For example, butter grew at 128 per cent, lumber at 114 per cent and meat products at 113 per cent.

At the same time, Belarus traditionally buys coal from Russia through the exchange, products made of ferrous metals and ferroalloys, as well as industrial equipment, spare parts and components. In addition, this year Belarusian bidders actively purchased lubricants and polymer products from Russian suppliers. Yaroslav Kovalchuk shared details about who forms the pool of Russian participants at Belarusian exchange trading. In particular, as of September 24, 5,318 Russian residents from 79 regions, including seven companies with the status of stock brokers, are accredited at BUCE. Since the beginning of the year, 402 Russian companies have become BUCE clients. Most of them are registered in Moscow, Leningrad, Smolensk, Bryansk and Sverdlovsk regions.

- It is worth noting that new participants from Russia come to the exchange almost daily, so the accreditation indicator is very dynamic, the representative of BUCE stressed.

By the way, from year to year, the top three regions in terms of the amount of transactions concluded do not change: these are the Moscow, Leningrad and Smolensk regions. In January-August 2026, the share of these regions in exchange trade with Russia amounted to 70 percent. This situation is explained by convenient logistics, strong trade and economic ties and the role of these regions as trade hubs through which Belarusian goods are distributed throughout Russia.

- The dynamics of the volume of exchange trade between Belarus and the regions from the top three for the first eight months was as follows. The trade turnover with the Moscow region remained at the level of January-August last year, and with the Leningrad and Smolensk regions grew by 29 percent and 65 percent, respectively, Yaroslav Kovalchuk said.

As for other subjects of Russia, this year, companies from the Omsk, Kaliningrad, Belgorod and Voronezh regions, the Stavropol and Perm territories, and the Republic of Tatarstan are showing high activity in exchange trading. All these regions are united by the high demand for Belarusian dairy products: butter, powdered milk, dry whey, rennet cheeses and cottage cheese. Imports are dominated by ferrous metals, ferroalloys and industrial goods. The focus on small and medium-sized businesses was shared by Yaroslav Kovalchuk and plans to expand exchange cooperation between the countries. So, in the development of exchange trade with the regions of Russia, BUTB relies on small and medium-sized businesses. After all, for this category of business entities, the exchange platform, on the one hand, serves as a distribution network when exporting goods to Belarus, and on the other hand, serves as a reliable channel for purchasing Belarusian products directly from manufacturers.

- In this regard, we plan to continue close cooperation with regional chambers of commerce and industry and export support centers in terms of informing representatives of the business community about the potential and advantages of the exchange mechanism. This involves holding joint seminars and webinars, participation in regional business and exhibition events, as well as receiving business delegations at the central office of the exchange in Minsk, the source said.

By the way, at the end of August, BUCE signed a cooperation agreement with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Smolensk region. The document provides the legal basis for a long-term partnership between the two organizations and allows to establish systemic interaction between them in the exchange sphere. By the way, cooperation with the regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry opens up additional opportunities for involving Smolensk business in exchange trade.

- In fact, this is a direct channel of communication with more than 700 enterprises and entrepreneurs in the region, many of whom will be interested in the tools offered by the exchange. Today, 662 business entities of the Smolensk region are already represented on our site, and the amount of transactions of Smolensk participants in January-August increased 1.7 times, exceeding $208 million in equivalent. I am sure that with the assistance of the chamber, we will be able to significantly increase both these indicators, Yaroslav Kovalchuk commented.

The first practical result of the signed cooperation agreement was a joint exchange seminar for business circles of the Smolensk region, during which key features and advantages of participation in exchange trading, an algorithm for entering the Belarusian commodity market through BUCE were considered. In addition, negotiations were held with representatives of the Yartsev Metallurgical Plant on the supply of ferrous metal for enterprises of the industrial sector of Belarus. An agreement was reached on the accreditation of this organization on the stock exchange.

Another vector in which BUCE intends to work is to strengthen partnerships with Russian exchange platforms to exchange experience, implement joint projects and simplify mutual access to the exchange markets of the two countries. Now BUCE and JSC St. Petersburg Exchange together with colleagues from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are working on the formation of an international system of indicators of commodity markets, participate in the creation of a new supranational exchange association - the International Association of Commodity and Futures Exchanges. These are long-term strategic projects with broad scaling prospects.

INTERESTING

Among foreign business entities accredited on the exchange, Russian bidders rank first in terms of the amount of transactions. For eight months of 2026, they accounted for 46 percent of BUCE’s total foreign trade turnover. In addition to Russian companies, representatives of China, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan entered the top five in terms of exchange trade volumes.

FACT

For eight months of 2026, Russian residents sold products worth $120.5 million at the exchange auction, which is 20 percent more than in the same period of 2025.

druk@sb.by