Surprisingly high ratio of automotive freight-forwarding services from EU by Belarusian operators

According to eurostatica.com in May 2015 the market of freight-forwarding operations from the European Union to Belarus had two main features.

Firstly, the market showed considerable growth not only compared to April 2015 but as well as to May 2014.

Secondly, imports via automotive channel from the EU to Belarus exceeded the imports from the EU to Ukraine (excluding oil).

Taking into account the general market recession, which does include the freight-forwarding market in general, the channel of automotive freight-forwarding services shows phenomenal growth. The main reason is the import embargo on products implemented by Russia in August 2014 as a response to the sanctions of the EU. It considerably changed the main cargo routes for fruits and vegetables from the EU to The Eurasian Customs Union.

Already from the 4th quarter of 2014 the international automotive freight – forwarding services from the EU to Belarus showed sharp growth, which continued into year 2015. During the first five months of 2015 the import from the EU to Belarus of agriculture products was 92 thousand tons. That accounts for the 90% of the 2014 the import of agriculture products even despite the sharp growth in the last quarter of 2014. 95% (about 88 thousand tons) of the agriculture import are fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables. The automotive import of these products to Belarus during the first five months of 2015 increased 2.3 times compared to the same period of the previous year.