April 13, 2006

Kazakhstan hopes to export wheat to China
 

Kazakhstan would be exporting up to one million tonnes of wheat annually to China in 3-4 years, Arman Yevniev, director of the Kazakh Agriculture Ministry's land department, told Interfax.

Yevniev added that China is sending officials to study and appraise Kazakhstan's export potential.

The deal would have gone through easily, if it had been able to sail through customs. However, problems abound with crop control and grain import quarantine issues, both of which scuttled deals the previous few times.

Kazakhstan has not traditionally supplied grain to China and Yevniev feels this tradition needs to be broken.

China has so far refused to issue export licences to Kazakhstan, citing disease issues. However, that may change if the grain deficit widens in China.

Yevniev said Kazakhstan is considering other routes for grain exports as well. The country is actively developing exports to the Caspian region and the Mediterranean Sea. It also has  European and North African countries in its sight for the near future.