The Republic of Belarus introduced the licensing of confectioneries imported from non-Eurasian Economic Union countries. Such a statement was recently made by Alexander Baldinyuk, the head of Ukrkondprom, association of the largest Ukrainian confectionery producers.
The supplies of Ukrainian products to the Belarusian market are suspended until Ukraine agrees to meet the new requirement of the local authorities. To be more precise, the Belarusian authorities want the Ukrainian food to be sold in Belarus at a price that is 30 to 500 percent higher than that of the producers. Alexander Baldinyuk thinks that, by doing so, the Belarusian authorities are aiming to hamper Ukrainian shipments to the domestic market.
The chief of Ukrkondprom called this decision is unfair and urged the Ukrainian government to undertake the appropriate measures in response to the discriminatory and non-amicable action of Belarus.
In fact, Ukraine risks incurring the loss of 130 million hryvnias by the end of the year.
Belarus is the fourth foreign market for Ukrainian confectionery. The Ministry of Income and Charges of Ukraine has estimated exports to Belarus in 2013 at 24.4 thousand tons in volume and at 70 million U.S. dollars in value. Russia’s imports to Ukraine in 2013 made up 1.2 tons, or 3.3 million U.S. dollars.
Earlier, in June and May, Belarus had decided to license imports of Ukrainian beer.