Belarus: Domestic malting barley supplies to be sufficient this year

Belarusian breweries will be provided with malting barley in full this year, head of the Belgospishcheprom concern Ivan Danchenko was quoted as saying by BelTA on July, 29.

In 2011, the government contract for malting barley was increased to 212,000 tonnes from 150,000 tonnes in 2010. “I am convinced that we will be able to get the sufficient amount of malting barley. Our analysis has showed that in general the malting barley is compliant with the relevant standards,” Danchenko said. The protein content is 11%.

New barley production areas are explored: barley production is increasing in the Mogilev and Vitebsk oblasts. Good weather conditions are conducive to harvesting high quality malting barley.

Today Belarusian malt sells well in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States, Central Asia and the Caucasus, Danchenko said. In H1 alone, the state-owned malting company Belsolod earned $35 million. After the upgrade, the enterprise doubled its capacities from 65,000 tonnes to 130,000 tonnes of barley processing per year.

03 August, 2011