OREANDA-NEWS. On 26 August 2009 was announced, that Belarusian farms have so far supplied 61,150 tonnes of malt barley to state procurement organizations, which includes 56,000 tonnes of second-grade barley, 89.7% of the total, Vladimir Grakun, the head of the crop production department with the Agriculture Ministry, told reporters.

The state-guaranteed order for malt barley stands at 150,000 tonnes.

Grakun also said grain harvesting is expected to be completed in the final days of August; grain harvest in bunker weight is expected over 8 million tonnes.

By August 13, 1.469 million hectares, or 65% of total planted area, had been harvested. Grain harvest so far has totaled 5.789 million tonnes, down 2.4% on the year, with the average yield of 3.894 tonnes per hectare, up 2.9%.