OREANDA-NEWS. November 17, 2009. Belarus’ OAO Belsolod, the country’s only producer of malt, reported a 22.7% decrease in output in January-October 2009 over the same period of 2008 to 54,180 tonnes, a source in the company told.

Exports fell 4.2 times to 8,533 tonnes. In monetary terms, exports dropped 83.3% to USD 3.812 million.

Belsolod on August 7 suspended its operations for reconstruction and plans to resume production on November 1, 2009.

The reconstruction, worth an estimated 92 billion rubles, is required to double the malt-producing capacity to 130,000 tonnes without additional energy costs. It is planned to install almost 16 million euros’ worth of Swiss Buhler AG equipment at Belsolod.

The reconstruction is scheduled to be completed in 2010.

Belsolod was established in 1989 and transformed into a joint stock company in 1996.