* Wheat exports up 72 percent so far, barley up too
* Ministry says country's wheat balance is secured
(Adds details, background) SOFIA, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Bulgaria reaped 3.76 million tonnes of wheat from all of its acreage, slightly below last year's 4 million tonnes due to rainy weather, but its exports have jumped, according to the agriculture ministry.
The unfavourable weather has also cut Bulgaria's barley harvest to 767,215 tonnes from 859,000 tonnes in 2009, the ministry said on Tuesday.
World wheat prices have soared since the end of June due to severe drought and torrential rains in the major grain-growing region around the Black Sea, especially in major exporter Russia. Many countries across Europe have revised down their 2010 wheat crop forecasts.
Bulgaria has exported 550,000 tonnes of wheat so far from this year's crop, up 72 percent on an annual basis, while barley exports have risen to 400,000 tonnes from 304,000 tonnes for the same period of 2009, operational data from the agriculture ministry showed.
The Balkan country is a net wheat exporter, with shipments averaging 1.5 million tonnes a year. The national association of grain producers has said Bulgaria could export over 1.0-1.1 million tonnes of feed wheat, although it faces a shortage of 300,000 tonnes of milling wheat.
Russia, Europe's biggest wheat producer, has already signalled it will extend an export ban until 2011.
The Bulgarian agriculture ministry, however, says that the country's wheat balance is secured.
(Reporting by Irina Ivanova, editing by Jane Baird)