Vitebsk region's exports increased by 29.3% in the first quarter

May 13, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. Vitebsk region's exports in January-March 2010 increased by 29.3% compared to the same period in 2009 to $106.9 million, while imports grew by 1.4% to $91.5 million. The positive foreign trade balance amounted to $15.4 million, the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Economy Committee informed a BELTA correspondent, clarifying that this year the forecast parameters for foreign trade activities are being implemented without taking into account the export and import volumes of enterprises of republican subordination, oil and petroleum products. For communal enterprises, the export growth rate was 130% compared to January-March 2009, and imports - 59.3%, with a positive foreign trade balance of $42.4 million. The meat and dairy industry enterprises of the region performed most successfully in the first quarter, including Polotsk Dairy Plant (export growth rate 203.1%), Lepel Dairy and Condensed Milk Plant (182%), Glubokoye Meat Processing Plant (181.3%), Vitebsk Meat Processing Plant (153.5%), Glubokoye Dairy and Condensed Milk Plant (161.2%). For organizations without departmental subordination, exports increased by 30.7%, and imports - by 7.6%. The balance was negative, amounting to $26.9 million. In the first quarter, the Vitebsk region traded with 83 countries. Goods were supplied to the markets of 56 states and imported from 74. The largest share of goods exports (57%) falls on Russia, Estonia (4.6%), the Netherlands (4.3%), Latvia, China, and Turkey (3.7% each), Iran (3%), Germany, and Lithuania (2.6%). Measures taken to diversify export supplies and develop new sales markets have made it possible to increase the supply of products to the UAE, Syria, Singapore, as well as to start supplies to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Cyprus, Libya, Paraguay, Afghanistan, Serbia, Norway, Greece, and Liechtenstein. Work on regional and targeted segmentation of the commodity distribution networks of the region's enterprises in the Russian market continues. For example, in Moscow, OOO "Glubokoye Moloko", OOO SP "VitEl", OOO SP "Myaskovit-El", ZAO TD "Glubokoye MKК" were registered, and in St. Petersburg - OOO "VITMIT". In addition, wholesale warehouses of Orsha Meat Canning Plant were opened in Moscow, Kirov, and Smolensk; Glubokoye Dairy and Condensed Milk Plant in Yekaterinburg and Irkutsk; and Obil Ceramic Plant in the Kaliningrad, Leningrad, Pskov, and Murmansk regions. Active participation in exhibition and fair activities helps the region's enterprises promote their products in the Russian market. For instance, in January-April, the region's producers took part in more than a dozen such events in various cities of Russia. Revenue from products sold at these events amounted to over 15 million Russian rubles.-0-