August 31, 2010

Kazakhstan to further grain exports

Kazakhstan will extend the geography of its own grain exports due to the grain export ban in Russia, said Asylzhan Mamytbekov, chairman of the Board of Directors of the National holding KazAgro JSC, on August 27.

According to him, the Caucasian countries will become potential partners of Kazakhstan in the sphere of grain trading. They can purchase on the Kazakh market the volume that they previously planned to purchase in Russia, noted A. Mamytbekov.

The country will probably increase export volumes on the traditional markets, he said.

The head of the holding noted that despite the fact that the Russian Federation stopped grain supplying to traditional markets, that does not mean that Kazakhstan should take the place of Russia.

Last year in Kazakhstan, grain production totalled 22.7 million tonnes in bunker weight, or 20 million tonnes in clean weight. According to the forecast, in 2010, grain production will total 16 million tonnes in bunker weight, 14 million tonnes in clean weight.

Previously, it was announced that grain export volumes from Kazakhstan will total eight million tonnes, including four million tonnes to the countries of Central Asia and Afghanistan, and also two million tonnes to the countries of the South Caucasus, Russia, Iran and other countries.