April 20, 2006

Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan to build new grain export terminal in Baku

The new grain export terminal in Azerbaijan's capital Baku on the Caspian Sea, which will be used to export grain from Kazakhstan, will be commissioned in two years' time, the press office of the government of Kazakhstan says.

Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are forming a joint venture to build the terminal. The main force behind the project is Kazakhstan's Prodcorporation, which accounts for about 40 percent of Kazakhstan's total grain export.

The terminal's capacity is planned at 350,000-500,000 tonnes a year at the cost of US$3 million.

The new terminal is part of Kazakhstan's efforts to create an export route for its grain to the Black Sea bypassing Russia and Ukraine, which are Kazakhstan's main competitors on the international grain market.

Currently most of Kazakhstan's export grain goes via Russia and Ukraine, depending too much on the two countries' transit tariff policy.

In the 2006/07 marketing year Kazakhstan plans to increase its grain exports to 4.5 million-5 million tonnes from about 2 million tonnes the previous marketing year.