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export potential," he added.
Potash supplies accounts for around 75% of the nation's exports to China. " It means our export to China is highly concentrated as far as specific products are concerned," Krutoi said. "In other words, not all the opportunities for diversifying Belarusian merchandise export to China have been explored." In September, the state-owned Belarusian Potash Company (BPC), a trade arm of the Belaruskali miner, secured a supply agreement with China, the world's biggest potash consumer, at a price of $290 per tonne.
According to Belarus customs committee the republic exported a total of $16.3bn worth of goods in the first half of this year and imported $18.8bn worth, leaving the country with a $2.4bn trade deficit. That is already larger than the full year trade deficit in 2017 of $1.9bn, according to foreign trade statistics accounting.
Under the balance of payments methodology the numbers are better with $7.8bn of exports in 2017, $4.8bn of imports and a trade surplus of $3bn last year. In the first half of this year exports were $4.1bn, imports $2.4bn giving a surplus of $1.7bn, ahead of the $1.5bn surplus over the same period a year earlier.
Russia remains Belarus’s main trade partner. In January-June 2018 it accounted for 39.2% of total export and about 59% of import.
The European Union is the second largest trade partner . In January-June 2018 it accounted for 32.4% of export and one fifth of import. The main importers in the EU are Great Britain, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Belgium, Estonia.
Half of Belarusian total export of services are transport services (trucks, oil and gas) reflecting the country’s transit role. Belarus’s main trade partners in export of service are Russia (about 41% of exports, 39% of imports) and the EU (about 30% of exports, 35% of imports).
18 BELARUS Country Report November 2018 www.intellinews.com