Agriculture In Belarus Reduces Production, Accumulates Debts

Information on the finances of the agricultural sector has also been updated.

The flagships of the agricultural industry reported the first production results in 2022.

Information on the finances of the agricultural sector has also been updated.

In January 2022, output in farms of all categories decreased by 0.3% compared to 2021. In the regional context, only Brest (+1.2%) and Minsk (+4.2%) regions showed an increase in production compared to last year. In other regions, the issue drawdown ranged from 2.2% in Vitsebsk to 6.8% in Homel, writes banki24.by.

In terms of earnings, agriculture remains on the list of outsiders. The average salary in the industry for 2021 was 1,006 BYN, while the average salary in the economy was 1,434 BYN.

In 2021, the backlog of farmers from the average bar has intensified. According to Belstat, real wages in the country grew by 4.4% by 2020, and in agriculture — by 3.7%.

At the end of 2021, the agricultural sector reported the largest number of working hours - 2,165 against 1,921 on average for the economy. At the same time, the average salary per hour in the agricultural sector amounted to only BYN 5.6 against BYN 8.7 in the whole country.

In 2021, the flagships of the agricultural sector fired workers more often than hired. At the end of 2021, the number of dismissed people was estimated at 93.2 thousand people, while the number of employees was 79.9 thousand.

In Belarus, data on finances and settlements of large and medium-sized organizations come with a delay from the end of the reporting period. For this reason, in February, the most recent information refers to the statistics for the past year.

In 2021, the revenue of the flagships of agriculture increased in nominal terms by 15.1% compared to 2020. But over the same period, agricultural producer prices rose by 15.3%. Therefore, in real terms (adjusted for inflation), revenue in the industry did not increase by 2020.

The average return on sales for the flagships of agriculture in 2021 was 6.2%, with an average level in the economy of 8.3%.

At the end of 2021, 28.1% of large and medium-sized state farms showed negative profitability (suffered losses from sales), and 33.9% of flagships showed profitability in the range of 0-5%. This means that the median profitability of the industry's flagships is below 5%.

There are few highly profitable flagships in agriculture. Only 2.3% of them in 2021 had a profitability of 20+% and only 0.5% of the flagships — 30+%. The shares of such flagships in the economy are 8.4% and 4.0%, respectively.

By January 1, 2022, the total debts in the industry reached 16.1 billion BYN. For 2021, the debts of the flagships grew by 8.1%. Overdue debts on the same date amounted to BYN 2.966 billion (+5.1% over 12 months). The share of overdue as of the reporting date was 18.4% against 6% in the economy.

In 2021, state farmers allocated BYN 3.307 billion to repay loans and borrowings. Compared to 2020, payments to creditors increased by 43.2% (average growth in the economy — 16.2%).