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Iran ready to purchase 6 mln tons of grain from Kazakhstan

2 October 2014 15:12 (UTC+04:00)
Iran ready to purchase 6 mln tons of grain from Kazakhstan

By Aynur Jafarova

Iran has expressed its readiness to purchase up to 6 million tons of grain per year from Kazakhstan.

It was announced by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev at a meeting with businessmen of the Mangistau region.

"On my instructions, the capacity of the Aktau seaport has been increased from 12.5 to 16 million tons, and it will be increased to 22 million tons of cargo per year by 2020. Iran is ready to purchase up to 6 million tons of grain each year. The agreements achieved with Iran in this and other areas open up new prospects for access to foreign markets. Overall, given the capacities of Aktau seaport, our country enjoys a great export capacity," Nazarbayev said.

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.

Kazakhstan plans to export about 7 million metric tons of grain in the new marketing year.

Earlier Chairman of the Committee of State Inspections in the Agricultural Sector of Kazakh Agriculture Ministry Saktash Khasenov said Kazakhstan plans to export grain to South-East Asia.

"We have made good progress in the export of bread to South-East Asia and China," he noted. "The issue has been almost resolved. Thus, the export volume of Kazakh grain to China has been growing over the last 3-4 years."

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