OREANDA-NEWS. February 25, 2010. Belarus’ farm output increased 5.7% on the year in January to 1.2 trillion Belarusian rubles (Br), a source in the National Statistics Committee told.

Sales of fattened cattle and poultry rose 6.4% on the year in January to 120,000 tonnes, milk output rose 5.1% to 453,700 tonnes, and egg output went up 3.2% to 266.6 million units.

Return on sales of Belarus’ agribusiness reached 4.1% in 2009, down from 5.9% in 2008.

Net profit of agricultural companies amounted to 1.5 trillion rubles in 2009, down 13.8% on the year.

In 2009, farms’ net loss reached 31.3 billion rubles, up 50% year-on-year. There were 23 unprofitable farms, compared to 18 loss-makers in 2008.

Overdue payables of Belarus’ agriculture were at 1.9 trillion rubles as of January 1, 2010, 19.6% of all payables. Overdue payables rose 36.6% over January 1, 2009, and exceeded overdue receivables 4.5 times.