August 31, 2006

Belarus short of 1.2 million tonnes of feed grains 
 

The Belarussian agriculture ministry Thursday (Aug 31) said the country is 1.17 million tonnes of feed grain short of the requirement for the 2006-2007 marketing year and a ban on the export of grain had been imposed.

The agriculture ministry said Thursday the country needed 3.92 million tonnes of feed grain in the 2006-2007 marketing year, but farmers could only supply 2.75 million tonnes, and the remaining 1.17 million tonnes would have to be imported.

The ministry said purchases from foreign suppliers would be carried out by grain processing enterprises at tenders, and must be completed before Oct 1.

Harvest has been disrupted by heavy rains. The agriculture ministry said Jul 20 that this year's harvest was unlikely to be more than 6 million tonnes of grain, considerably lower than originally planned.

Belarus's earlier plans to harvest 8 million tonnes of grain this year have been thwarted by adverse weather conditions during winter months.

In 2005, Belarus harvested 6.4 million tonnes of grain in clean weight, 8 percent less than in 2004.