Malt plants made 288,000 tonnes of malt in 2016 with the total production capacity of around 510,000 tonnes, Director General of private joint-stock company Ukrpyvo Halyna Korenkova has said.

"The capacity of our malt plants is around 510,000 tonnes. We made 288,000 tonnes of malt last year," she told reporters in Kyiv on Monday.

She said that some 148 varieties of malt were registered in the public register of varieties of plants, including 65 brewer's varieties.

"Total barley harvest in Ukraine is around 7.5 million tonnes every year, including 2 million tonnes of brewer's barley, while we need 800,000 tonnes of barley for 500,000 tonnes of malt," she said.

She said that the European Union (EU) is not interested in supplies of barley from Ukraine. The duty free quota is around 350,000 tonnes.

"We export around 4.8 million tonnes [of barley a year]. Our barley, including brewer's barley, is mainly bought by Africa and Asia," Korenkova said.

As reported, referring to the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry, Ukraine harvested 9.4 million tonnes of barley in 2016.