May 31, 2013

In the first quarter of this year, Kazakhstan's wheat exports have fallen by 72% versus the same period of 2012.

Wheat shipments from Kazakhstan, the world's eighth-largest exporter, totalled 628,000 tonnes in the first three months of this year, compared with 2.22 million tonnes in the corresponding period last year, according to customs data. Experts are afraid that the country could fail in the execution of the existing trade contracts to supply wheat and other grain abroad.

"Earlier, it was predicted that Kazakhstan will exports 6.5-7 million tonnes of grain in the 2012-13 marketing year (from July 1, 2012-July 1, 2013). The previous three quarters, from July 1, 2012-April 1, 2013, the country exported only 5.2 million tonnes of grain with the significant drop in the third quarter," according to a recent report from the Ministry of Agriculture.

In this regard, the experts are not sure whether Kazakhstan can reach the planned level of grain exports by July 1. Meanwhile, the Department of Land Development under the Ministry of Agriculture Sagintaya Zhumazhanova claims that Kazakhstan "may export some two million tonnes of grain by the end of the current marketing year." However, in the fourth quarter according to preliminary custom data export still remains weak.