OREANDA-NEWS. On 25 December 2008 was announced, that trade turnover of the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange is expected to rise 76% on the year in 2008 to 3 trillion Belarusian rubles (Br), Chairman of the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange Arkady Salikov told reporters.

“The turnover of the Belarusian exchange exceeds the combined turnover of 50 Russian mercantile exchanges,” Salikov said. He attributed the significant trading volume to state regulations, which allow trade in some goods only via the exchange.

“Since early 2008 we have transferred 7 billion rubles to the state budget and 2 billion rubles to the national development funds. Dividends paid to the state amounted to 1 billion rubles,” he said.

“If trade turnover expands further, we will have excess funds that we may invest in a warranty fund to offer additional services,” Salikov said.

He said stringent regulations adopted by the exchange safeguard traders against default on commitments of contractors.

According to Salikov, trade in metals is the most capacious segment of the market, despite the fact that only 20% of all imports are traded via the exchange.

Metal sales via the exchange rose 18.7% on the year in January-September 2008 to 340,900 tonnes worth 1.325 trillion rubles, up 60%.