Azernews.Az

By Aynur Karimova

Kazakhstan is keen on strengthening the position in traditional markets for exporting grain - Azerbaijan, Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asian countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.

This was announced by Kazakhstan's Agriculture Ministry.

The ministry told Trend that Kazakhstan is also interested in increasing grain export to the promising markets, including Europe and Turkey, where there is a constant demand for high-protein and durum wheat.

The ministry went on to add that currently, Kazakhstan has no plans to build grain terminals in the European direction.

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.

The average annual production of grain in Kazakhstan in 2005-2014 amounted to 17.4 million tons, which fully meets the domestic consumption and makes it possible to export high-quality grain surplus to foreign markets.

Some 17.162 million tons of grain and leguminous crops were harvested in the country in 2014, which is 5.9 percent less than in 2013.

As of September 4, 2015, some 3.491 million metric tons of grain were gathered in Kazakhstan.

In 2015, the grain harvest in Kazakhstan is forecasted at 17.3 million tons in gross weight.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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