Belarus looking to export potatoes to the European Union

Belarus plans to get domestic potato producers certified for compliance with the EU requirements, according to Aleksei Bogdanov, Head of the Central Office for Foreign Economic Activities of the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry ahead of the third international forum 'Agriculture in Belarus' in Minsk.

Aleksei Bogdanov, Head of the Central Office for Foreign Economic Activities of the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry:

“We are now actively working to get Belarusian potatoes certified for compliance with the EU requirements. We have already applied for recertification of our lands.”

“The European Commission is considering our proposal, and we will continue to work on this issue.”

In 2018 Belarus' potato exports amounted to $50 million, down by 28%.

Aleksei Bogdanov:

“We are aware of this problem, and we will discuss it today. This is due to the fact that we focused more on the Russian market which has been growing rapidly.”

“Potato production has been on the rise in the countries of the EAEU countries [PP: EAEU = Eurasian Economic Union; includes the countries Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic]. Therefore, geographic diversification will become a pressing issue..”

“We need to move away from dependence on one market, build up exports, improve the quality of products and implement modern digital technology.”

In 2017, Belarus was the 11th largest potato producer in the world, producing 6.41 million tonnes of potatoes.