Reducing production costs and exploring new markets are key to increasing exports from the Vitebsk region

Reducing the cost of goods and a thorough study of new markets should become the main areas of work for enterprises in the Vitebsk region to increase export volumes. This conclusion was announced today at a joint meeting of the collegium of the Vitebsk Regional Committee of State Control and the Council of the Vitebsk Regional Employers' Union (VOSN) by the Deputy Chairman of the Regional Committee of State Control, Yulia Avhukova.

For January-July 2015, the export of goods from enterprises in the Vitebsk region decreased by 35.2%, or by $562 million, compared to the corresponding period last year, and amounted to $1034.5 million. The negative balance of foreign trade in goods increased and amounted to $921.2 million (an increase of $184.2 million). Also, for a number of items, the assigned task for the region to export goods to new promising markets is not being fulfilled.

"There are also issues with foreign accounts receivable. It remains at approximately the same level due to the decrease in exports, but the volume of overdue debt is growing," said the representative of the Regional Committee of State Control. "During the reporting period, we have already brought 11 entities to administrative responsibility for an amount exceeding Br1.7 billion."

There are a number of reasons for all of the above. For example, the enterprises themselves name restrictions on participation in tenders, which they encounter when trying to enter the Russian market, as one of the problematic issues. At the same time, Yulia Avhukova stated that the main problem in promoting Belarusian goods to new markets remains the correspondence of price and quality. A large proportion of the goods offered for sale cannot withstand competition in terms of price.

"At the same time, inspections reveal cases of mismanagement in production, violations of material release standards, lack of raw material usage accounting, and inefficient use of space. All this leads to an unjustified increase in the cost of production. Thus, the development of the enterprise's export potential is primarily linked to reducing the cost of production and a more thorough study of potential sales markets," emphasized Yulia Avkhukova.

In this regard, the Chairman of the VOSN, Vladimir Turavinov, noted that to assist in establishing business contacts with enterprises in Russia and other countries, the regional union of employers has created a bank of almost 60 cooperation proposals from economic entities of the Vitebsk region, which are sent to partners for consideration. He added that in the matter of export diversification, the development of markets in Russian regions continues to play an important role.

Currently, the VOSN has concluded cooperation agreements with regional associations of employers of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs from 15 regions: Smolensk, Kaluga, Tver, Pskov, Oryol, Ryazan, Voronezh, Stavropol, and others. This year, business visits of the VOSN to Tver and Lipetsk were organized. In November, a visit of business circles of the Vitebsk region to Orenburg is planned.

Today, at a joint meeting of the board of the Vitebsk Regional Control Committee and the VOSN Council, the results of the work of enterprises and regional management bodies on diversifying sales markets, fulfilling the set export targets, the effectiveness of using tools such as export risk insurance and export lending, the results of control measures, and problematic issues in promoting Belarusian goods to traditional and new markets were considered. Representatives of the regional economic court, insurance and banking institutions, and a number of regional enterprises also participated in the discussion.

Ekaterina Knyazeva, BELTA.