Vitebsk Oblast companies export one-third up in January-March 2011

VITEBSK, 18 May (BelTA) – In January-March 2011 the export of goods of the Vitebsk Oblast companies totaled $382.4 million, that is up 32% over the same period 2010 in actual prices, belta learnt from the economy department of the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee. The growth of export in Q1 was caused by the increase in the deliveries of ethylene polymers, fiberglass, and the higher sales of meat and dairy products, linen cloths, and hosiery. The supplies to Russia account for 56% of the Vitebsk Oblast export, the deliveries to the European Union total 30.2% and the export to the CIS states (excluding Russia) makes up near 5.1% of the total export volume. The import volume totaled $326.3 million (or 77% up). The rise in the import volumes was caused by the higher fertilizers imports. Russian goods make up 81% of the region’s import, the imports from the EU make up 10.6%. On the whole, in January-March 2011 the volume of foreign trade in goods (without oil products) by the companies of the region made up $708.7 million. The main trading partners of the region are companies from Russia (73% of the trade turnover), the Netherlands, (4.2%), Germany (2.3%), Ukraine (2.2%), China, Latvia (2% each), Poland (1.5%), Estonia (1.1%), Iran, and Italy (0.9% each). The companies of Vitebsk Oblast interact with organizations from almost 100 countries. Their export accounted for 5.9% of the overall Belarus’ export in January-March 2011.

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