Kazakhstan grinds over 1 mln tons of grain
By Aynur Jafarova
Kazakhstan has ground over one million tons of grain as of August 19, the Agriculture Ministry said.
"As of August 19, 2014, the Kazakh farmers harvested wheat from 943,000 hectares, and ground more than one million tons of grain with a yield of 11.6 tons per hectare, which is four tons per hectare less than the same period last year", the ministry said.
The lowest yield is noted in Aktobe (4.1 tons per hectare) and Zhambyl provinces (8.1 tons per hectare) due to dry weather conditions during the growing season of crops.
This year the level of yield of grain crops in Kazakhstan is predicted on historical averages, which is about 11 quintals per hectare. In general, the predicted gross grain harvest of this year is about 17 million tons in bunker weight.
Today, there are 210 grain storage centers with a total storage capacity of about 13.9 million tons in Kazakhstan.
"Moreover, farmers have huge stores which allow storing 11 million tons of grain and thus, the total capacity for grain storage available is 24.9 million tons", the ministry added.
Currently, grain storage centers of Kazakhstan complete the works on the material and technical base preparing for the new crop grain reception.
In particular, as of August 19, some 153 grain storage centers have been tested, 92 of which were declared ready to receive the harvest, and 61 grain storage centers failed to stand the inspection for compliance with the qualification requirements for various reasons.
Approximately 45,000 combine harvesters, 156,200 tractors, 15,000 reapers and 46,800 trucks will be engaged in harvest collecting campaign in 2014 in Kazakhstan.
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.
The country is expected to harvest about 17 million tons of grain in 2014 and its wheat export capacity is estimated at 8-9 million tons.