Kazakhstan's wheat export capacity estimated at 8-9 mln tons
By Aynur Jafarova
Kazakhstan's wheat export capacity is estimated at 8-9 million tons.
The news was announced by Chairman of the Committee of State Inspections in the Agricultural Sector of Kazakh Agriculture Ministry Saktash Khasenov on August 8.
"The expected gross harvest [harvest of the current year] is about 17 million tons, and the carryover 4 million tons, that is, the export capacity is 8-9 million tons," Khasenov noted at a press-conference.
He also said the country's grain export markets remain traditional - Azerbaijan, Iran and neighboring Central Asian countries.
"There is an agreement with China to increase the supplies," he added. "Meanwhile, we may increase the supply to South-East Asia through China."
Kazakhstan is expected to harvest about 17 million tons of grain in 2014.
Kazakhstan is among the world's major grain exporters. In 2011, the country had a record harvest of nearly 27 million tons of grain in net weight. Kazakhstan exported 8.7 million tons of grain in 2013-2014 marketing year.
In 2012, Kazakh farmers harvested only 14.8 tons of grain due to a summer drought which occurred in the main grain regions. In 2013 grain harvest hit 18.9 million tons including 14.5 million tons of wheat.
Kazakhstan's total revenue from the wheat export has grown in the past four years by almost 2.5 times. The total revenue from wheat export was $1.2 billion in 2013 while in 2009 this figure was about $600 million.