September 28, 2005

Kazakhstan's president wants country to lead in grain exports
 

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said he wanted the country to become competitive enough to be among the world's top five grain exporters by 2010.

Currently, the top five global grain exporters are the US, Australia, Canada, Argentina and the EU.

President Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan would invest about US$3.3 billion in agriculture over the next seven years, with the goal of having its agriculture levels reaching that of eastern European countries.

In 2004, Kazakhstan harvested more than 12 million tonnes of grain, including about 10 million tonnes of wheat.

The president had earlier expected Kazakhstan to export 5.5 million tonnes of grain in 2005.