OREANDA-NEWS. On 04 May 2009 was announced, that Belarus’ farm output increased 6.3% on the year in January-March to 3.5 trillion Belarusian rubles (Br), a source in the National Statistics Committee told.

Agricultural companies and farms increased production 8.7%, while households’ output went down 7.4%.

Sales of fattened cattle and poultry rose 12% on the year in January-March to 279,300 tonnes, milk output rose 9.3% to 1.228 million tonnes, and egg output went up 0.4% to 572.2 million.

Return on sales of Belarus’ agribusiness reached 8.6% in January-February 2009, up from 8.5% in January-February 2008.

In January-February 2009, farms’ net profit reached 199.5 billion rubles, up 30.6% year-on-year. Net loss of 57 unprofitable farms was at 11.4 billion rubles, up from 4.6 billion rubles in January-February 2008. There were 74 loss-making farms in January-February 2008.

Overdue payables of Belarus’ agriculture were at 1.5 trillion rubles as of March 1, 2009, 19.7% of all payables. Overdue payables rose 24.3% over March 1, 2008, and exceeded overdue receivables 3.5 times.