OREANDA-NEWS. On 8 September 2009 was announced, that Belarus had harvested 8.293 million tonnes of grain by August 31, down 3.3% on the year, from 2.225 million hectares, 96.7% of total planted areas.

The average yield of grain and legumes stands at 3.73 tonnes per hectare, down 4.1% on the year.

Sales of grain have amounted to 100.7% of the state-guaranteed order, at 1.032 million tonnes, down 1% on the year. Sales of malt barley reached 121,500 tonnes, down 16.8% of the year, at 81% of the government-guaranteed order of 150,000 tonnes.

Sugar beet harvest amounted to 9,100 tonnes, half as much as on August 31, 2008, from 0.3% of areas under beet.

Sugar content was estimated at 14.22% on August 20, and is expected to reach 15.5% on September 1.

It is planned to harvest and process 780,000 tonnes of sugar beet in September, 1.867 million tonnes in October and 1.353 million tonnes in November.

Sugar beet procurement price stands at last year’s level, at 75,000 Belarusian rubles (Br) per tonne.