Minsk Oblast has plans to establish a joint venture to produce equipment for dairy farms in Kazakhstan. The matter was discussed during a working visit of the Minsk Oblast delegation led by Minsk Oblast Governor Boris Batura to Kazakhstan’s Karaganda Oblast on 11-13 August, chairman of the economy department of the Minsk Oblast Executive Committee Dmitry Pavlovich told reporters on 14 August, BelTA has learnt.

“A contract for the shipment of milking equipment worth over €900,000 has been inked between Unibox Group of Companies and one of the firms in Karaganda Oblast. This will be our first joint project in this area. Our equipment and milking parlor manufactured in Minsk Oblast will be installed at a farm in Kazakhstan. This farm will be constructed with the use of our technologies and in line with our documentation. Akim of Karaganda Oblast Baurzhan Abdishev has given a go-ahead to this project,” Dmitry Pavlovich noted.

The sides agreed to think over the construction of a milk-processing plant in Karaganda Oblast which will be used jointly with Minsk Oblast. “Minsk Oblast Governor Boris Batura has given an instruction to work on this matter, so it is currently under discussion. We suggest supplying our dried milk there and manufacturing products from this milk on the Kazakhstan market,” Dmitry Pavlovich underlined.

Food products are a major export item of Minsk Oblast to Karaganda Oblast and Kazakhstan as a whole. Minsk Oblast’s export includes sugar, dairy butter, frozen beef, strong drinks, almost the entire range of dairy products and other foodstuff.

Minsk Oblast’s 2012 export to Karaganda Oblast accounted for 30% of Belarus’ total export to Kazakhstan. Dairy exports went up almost two times (up 98.3%) as against 2011, reaching $5.4 million. Beef, pork and poultry meat export was up 1.6 times and hit $3.8 million.

Last year OAO Slutsk Cheese Factory exported $2.8 million worth of dairy butter, cheese, whey and ice cream to Kazakhstan, up 2.5 times as compared to 2011. COOO Evipack Industries exported $1.8 million worth of stretch wrap there, including food and industrial packaging wrap (up 1.6 times as against 2011). OAO Smolevichi Poultry Factory sold $1.4 million worth of meat and byproducts from poultry meat (up 2 times). The enterprise has also begun supplying ready-made and tinned products from poultry meat ($27,000). The enterprises of Minoblmyasomolprom - management company of the Myasomolprom holding company increased export to Kazakhstan by 25% in 2012 as against 2011, the export figures reaching $3.2 million.

All in all, according to the Minsk Oblast Executive Committee, the 2012 trade with Kazakhstan totaled $149 million, down 8.1% as compared to 2011, including export $116.5 million (down 1.2%) and import $32.5 million (down 26.5%). Minsk Oblast gained a foreign trade surplus of $84 million.

Minsk Oblast’s trade with Karaganda Oblast in 2012 equaled to $32.1 million (up 21.5% as against 2011), with export reaching $20.8 (down 1.6%) and import $11.3 million (up 2 times). Trade surplus stood at $9.5 million. In January-June 2013 the Minsk Oblast-Karaganda Oblast trade was $18.1 million (down 4% as against the same period in 2012), including export $16 million (up 67.4%) and import $2.1 million (down 77.5%). Trade surplus stood at $13.9 million.