25 April, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. Forestry enterprises of the Vitebsk region will complete birch sap harvesting this week, Oleg Gritskevich, leading engineer for subsidiary forest use and auxiliary agriculture of the Vitebsk Regional Production Forestry Association (PLHO), informed a BELTA correspondent. Harvesting of the spring beverage has been underway in the northernmost region of the country since the end of March. During this period, the region's forestry enterprises harvested 2.2 thousand tons of sap against a plan of 2.5 thousand tons. The leaders this spring are Glubokskoye and Begomlskoye (Dokshitsy district) forestry enterprises, with over 300 tons of sap each, as well as Disna (Miory district), Lepel, and Postavy forestry enterprises. In the remaining structural divisions of PLHO, harvesting is proceeding at a moderate pace due to the prolonged spring. 117 tons have been sold to the public during the past period, with 50 tons of this amount sold by Vitebsk forestry enterprise and 5 tons through a specially organized sales point of Begomlskoye forestry enterprise on the Vitebsk - Minsk highway. Local residents have also been actively engaged in self-harvesting the beverage by contacting forestry departments, noted Oleg Gritskevich, adding that forest rangers have not detected any instances of unauthorized sap harvesting this year. Forestry enterprises of the region have supplied over 2.1 thousand tons of the beverage to the processing enterprises of Vitebsk Regional Union of Consumer Societies, Vitebskprodmash State Production Association, Savushkin Product OJSC, Borisov Cannery, and Minsk Non-alcoholic Beverage Plant. Approximately another 200-300 tons are planned to be shipped in the coming days. Birch sap harvesting in the Vitebsk region will be completed by May 1. -0-

BELTA