Belarus: In 2004 Belarusian farmers delivered to local brewers about 158 thousand tonnes of malting barley, compared to only 19 thousand tonnes in 2003. This volume is sufficient for the needs of brewing industry, the Agency of Industry News has recently revealed. According to the same source, the farmers have as well improved the quality of the malting barley shipped. 12.5% of delivered malting barley is of first class, 0.35% of extra class, and the rest of second class, according to the State Quality Standard. Experts of brewing companies, consider that although purchasing of domestic malting barley versus imported one lowers the cost of beer by 10-12%, the quality of beer is to suffer a lot, and may thus bring about negative effects on brewers financial results.

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