April 16, 2008
 

Kazakhstan ban wheat exports to ensure "food security"

In a bid to control domestic prices for bread and other food, Kazakhstan has banned exports of wheat until at least September 1 to "ensure food security."

In a statement, Prime Minister Karim Masimov said the global rise in food prices was "quite alarming" which prompted the government to halt its wheat shipments.

Wheat futures have almost doubled in the past year on speculation global stockpiles will drop to the lowest in three decades. It reached a record of US$13.495 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on February 27.

Kazakhstan, the biggest energy producer in the former Soviet Union after Russia and the world's largest wheat exporter, shipped an estimated 8 million tonnes of wheat in 2006-2007, according to the US Department of Agriculture. It ranks behind the US, Canada, Russia, Argentina and Australia.

Masimov's spokeswoman, Ainagul Shakirova, said the ban will be effective ten days after it has been published by the government's official newspaper. 

The measure, which doesn't include flour, was taken to keep most of the 1.2 million tonnes of grain that farmers have stockpiled inside the country.