April 19, 2012

Kazakhstan cuts grain export forecast due to insufficient rail cars

Due to a lack of rail cars, Kazakhstan lowered its grain export forecast for this season, according to the Agriculture Ministry.

"We plan to export around 11-12 million tonnes this marketing year," Anna Buts, head of the farming department at the Agriculture Ministry, told reporters in Astana, the capital. "We haven't reached the average monthly export target of 1.2 million tonnes in the past few months because of a lack of rail cars."

Kazakhstan has exported 8.4 million tonnes, including 5.6 million tonnes of grain and 2.8 million tonnes of flour in grain equivalent weight from the start of the season on July 1-April 1, Buts said.

Most exports were sent within Central Asia and to Iran, with almost 90,000 tonnes carried to China, she said.

Kazakhstan may export 13 million tonnes this season, Grain Union President Nurlan Tleubayev said on April 2. The country has the potential to ship 15 million tonnes abroad, according to the Agriculture Ministry.

The Central Asian nation has less than half the 10,500 rail cars needed for grain exports, with only 4,500 of the country's 5,200 wagons in "working condition," the ministry said on January 24.

The grain harvest may slump by more than 50% this year to 13-15 million tonnes, Deputy Agriculture Minister Muslim Umiryayev said February 21. Last year's crop reached a record 26.9 million tonnes, according to the State Statistics Agency, Bloomberg states.