Belarus: The country will have to import malting barley this year

Belarus is very likely to have to import some malting barley this year, because of the poor quality of domestic one, UkrAgroConsult posted on September 20.

According to Belarus’ Deputy Prime Minister, the ban on malting barley imports will be lifted. He said: "This year we have grown more than 300,000 metric tonnes of malting barley, but its quality, unfortunately, leaves much to be desired."

While speaking about the grain crop in general, Mr. Bambiza said that the harvest might, however, reach 6 million tonnes, although the minimum target was 6.4 million metric tonnes as was last year. According to him, Belarus has already invited bids for buying about 150,000 metric tonnes of food wheat. "As for forage grain, we currently work for the domestic market, supplying hog and poultry farms with it," Mr. Bambiza said.

Belarus is still open for foreign investment in its brewing industry, they said.

However on September 7 Belarus media cited Lukashenko saying that foreign investors should pay “real price” for access to Belarusian brewing industry.

The Belarusian leader met with Sergei Kostyuchenko, CEO of Priorbank, and Leonid Anfimov, deputy head of the Presidential Administration, on September 5 to discuss the development of the industry.

According to Mr. Lukashenko’s press office, Priorbank was tasked with financing the modernization of Belarus’ largest breweries three years ago. Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Kostyuchenko said that the bank had accomplished the task in general. The quality of domestically made beer improved over the period and the market price of the Minsk-based Krynitsa brewer rose fourfold in the past three years, the executive said.

Mr. Kostyuchenko noted that the world’s three major breweries were interested in investing in Belarusian companies. The companies’ investment offers were discussed in detail at the meeting, the press office said.

Under discussion also was the quality of Belarusian-grown malting barley. Mr. Kostyuchenko stressed that bad weather conditions had affected this year’s harvest. However, he expressed certainty that high-quality malting barley can be produced in Belarus.

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