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Belarus' gasoline exports to Ukraine down by 3.7 percent in first five months of this year

Belarus' gasoline exports to Ukraine fell by 3.7 percent year-on-year from January through May of this year, according to a report by Kyiv-based consulting firm A-95.

Belarus supplied 418,500 tons of gasoline to Ukraine in the period, 16,100 tons less than in the same period of the previous year.

Experts linked the fall to a decline in demand for motor fuel that was caused by the weakening of the Ukrainian hryvnia.

At the same time, Belarus' exports of diesel fuel to Ukraine went up by 9.1 percent in the first five months of this year, despite an overall decrease in diesel fuel consumption in that country. The export rise may be linked to the current security chaos in Ukraine's southeast, which has complicated deliveries of Russian motor fuel.

Ukraine is Belarus' second-largest trading partner. Bilateral trade reached $6.25 billion in 2013, with Belarus' exports amounting to $4.2 billion. Petroleum products accounted for 70 percent of Belarus' exports to Ukraine last year. //BelaPAN