May 30, 2011

Turkmenistan intends to have bigger wheat crop and shipments

Turkmenistan, a recent entrant to the global wheat exporters, intends to increase its wheat harvest by 14% in 2011, thereby allowing 400,000 tonnes for export, according to a source within the government on Friday (May 27).

The gas-rich Central Asian state of five million people plans to harvest 1.6 million tonnes of wheat this year, the source said. This compares with 1.4 million tonnes in 2010, when the desert nation exported wheat for the first time.

"The harvest has already begun," said the source. Like most government officials in the reclusive former Soviet republic, he did not want to be identified.

Turkmenistan, which has a Caspian Sea coastline and borders Iran, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, is among the driest countries in the world. Its crops rely heavily on irrigation channels and desert covers 70% of its land.

In Soviet times, it depended almost entirely on wheat deliveries from other republics of the Soviet Union. Annual domestic wheat consumption today is 1.2 million tonnes.

Agriculture ministry data show that around 2,000 combine harvesters produced by Deere & Co and CNH Global N.V., under its Case brand, are being deployed in the current harvesting campaign.

The ministry said almost 900,000 hectares have been sown to wheat this year, an area almost the same size as Cyprus.

Turkmen farmers sold excess wheat from last year's crop on the state commodity exchange, while a small amount was delivered to neighbouring Iran as a Persian New Year gift in March.

The source did not identify future export markets, although demand from Iran is strong. Kazakhstan plans to deliver more grain to Iran via a new railway line through Turkmenistan that is under construction.