Mikhail Mishchenko: closing of Belarus is not a systematic measure

"The market tension will decrease, but this measure does not stimulate the development of the domestic market. There are two real problems: the technical regulation, which refers non - dairy products to dairy ones and an underdeveloped production base," the expert believes.

According to Mr. Mishchenko, traders will be affected the most by the Rosselkhoznadzor measure.

"Such measures encourage Belarus to modernize its production through painful methods, but we do not develop our own production. Closure has been postponed to March 6 - on the one hand, there is a powerful lobby and political will. But there are global trends. Today, consumption is completely different. Production is changing, the market is changing, and we cannot do anything," - said M. Mishchenko.

According to the expert, the statements of officials, including Deputy Head of the Rosselkhoznadzor Nikolay Vlasov, also influence the internal consumption.

"Today the consumer is afraid to buy cheese and goes to buy turkey or meat. We have the wrong opinion that consumer demand is low. But just recently, German Gref said that the black market is about 33%. When we produce dairy products, we ourselves are constantly reducing prices and dumping. The market of the cheap segment is crowded - it is necessary to go to a more expensive segment," Mikhail Mishchenko said.

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