OREANDA-NEWS. On 26 January 2009 was announced, that Belarus’ industrial output rose 10.6% on the year in 2008 to 127.51 trillion Belarusian rubles (Br), an official with the National Statistics Committee told.

Engineering and metalworking companies’ output rose 10.2% on the year in the period to 25.925 trillion rubles. The output of fuel companies went up 11.1% on the year in 2008 to 27.404 trillion rubles.

Chemical and petrochemical companies’ production increased 6.7% to 15.303 trillion rubles, and ferrous metallurgy companies’ output rose 9.7% to 5.159 trillion rubles. Electrical power companies’ output increased 7.1% on the year to 7.067 trillion rubles.

Construction materials companies’ output rose 10.2% on the year to 4.681 trillion rubles, and woodworking and pulp-and-paper companies’ production amounted to 3.766 trillion rubles, up 8.6% on the year in 2008.

Belarus’ light industry output was up 0.7% to 3.936 trillion rubles, while food industry’s output went up 8.7% to 16.165 trillion rubles.

Return on sales amounted to 16.3% in January-November 2008, up from 13.1% in January-November 2007.

There were 289 loss-making manufacturers in the period, with net losses estimated at 382.3 billion rubles.

Net profit of Belarus’ industrial companies rose 80% on the year to 8.4 trillion rubles in effective prices in January-November 2008 with producer price index (PPI) rising 14.5% in the period.