August 6, 2012

Belarus' grain harvest surpasses five million tonnes

About 1.363 million hectares sown with grain and legume crops were harvested by Belarus as of August 3, representing 56.1% of the plan while gross grain yield has exceed 5.2 million tonnes.

Minsk and Brest Oblasts harvested 1.179 million tonnes and 1.111 million tonnes respectively. Grodno Oblast cropped 998,000 tonnes, Gomel Oblast 785,600 tonnes, Mogilev Oblast 656,700 tonnes, Vitebsk Oblast 499,100 tonnes.

The average yield of grain and legumes is 38.4 centners per hectare (c/ha), which is 4.4 c/ha higher than last year. The highest yields are in Grodno Oblast at 48.5 c/ha.

A total of 443,000 tonnes of grain have been sold as part of the government grain procurement contract (37.4% of the plan).

Colza harvesting is almost complete in the country. Farmers have threshed 789,000 tonnes of oilseed (with the average yield of 22 c/ha). The government contract has so far made up 235,000 tonnes of oilseed (84% of the plan).