12 Nov 2009 16:13

Belarus

MINSK. Nov 12 (Interfax) - Belarus' gross grain harvest in 2009 came to 9 million tonnes, the country's Deputy Agriculture Minister Vasily Pavlovsky said at a press conference on Thursday in Minsk.

He said that agricultural organizations had harvested 8.6 million tonnes of grain which individual farms had collected over 400,000 tonnes. "In total, we have over 9 million tonnes of grain," Pavlovsky said.

The country's gross grain harvest for all categories in 2008 came to 9.3 million tonnes, up 25.8% in comparison with 2007.

He added that around 500,000 tonnes of corn would be harvested along with 746,000 tonnes of small-sized rapeseed. "If everything is added up, along with rapeseed and corn will have around 10 million tonnes of grain," Pavlovsky said.

It was earlier reported that at the end of 2008, that the Belarusian grain harvest for 2009 was forecast at no less than 9.4 mill tonnes. However, the forecast was later lowered. At the start of September, the Agriculture Ministry expected that gross harvest for 2009 for all categories would come to no less than 8.9 million tonnes.