October 11, 2012

Kazakhstan's 2012-13 grain crop down 47% due to drought

As drought persisted in the main growing regions in summer, Kazakhstan's grain crop shrank by 47% this season.

According to the Agriculture Ministry in a statement distributed in the capital city of Astana, the millers produced 14.3 million tonnes of grain as of Tuesday (Oct 9) after harvesting on 99% of the seeded area.

Kazakhstan reaped a record 26.9 million tonnes of grain in 2011, according to government figures.

Plantings were lost on more than one million hectares (2.47 million acres) of the 16.2 million hectares sown with grains, according to the statement.

The main cultivation areas of Akmola and Kostanai accounted for 90% of the losses, along with the Aktobe region and West Kazakhstan.

Average yields fell to 940 kilogrammes (2,072 pounds) a hectare from 1,530 kilogrammes in 2011, the ministry said, according to Bloomberg.