Belarus to limit cabbage, onion, apple exports owing to high demand in Russia

MINSK. Oct 9 (Interfax) - The Ministry of Anti-monopoly Regulation and Trade (MART) of Belarus is initiating the introduction of licensing to export cabbage, onions, and apples in order to meet domestic demand fully, MART Minister Alexei Bogdanov said.

"The issue of introducing licensing for the export of cabbage, onions, and apples is developing. What is the reason for this? It is predicted that there may not be enough of this product until the end of the off-season, since there is increased demand in the export direction today, to Russia. Prices there are somewhat higher than here on the domestic market," the BelTA state news agency quoted Bogdanov as saying.

"Therefore, it is planned to introduce a licensing mechanism in order to avoid uncontrolled exports and to ensure the domestic market, first of all," Bogdanov said.

Bogdanov said that this would render exports manageable and would allow maintaining the necessary volume for the domestic market.