November 12, 2012

Kazakhstan's grain export forecast decrease to seven million tonnes

As the harvest declined due to drought, Kazakhstan's Agriculture Minister Asylzhan Mamytbekov lowered the country's grain export forecast to seven million tonnes from eight million tonnes.

Grain shipments will not be limited, Mamytbekov said Friday (Nov 9) in the capital Astana.

"The export pace is normal, as it was planned," Mamytbekov said. Monthly exports are forecast to be about 400,000-500,000 tonnes a month, he said.

Kazakhstan's grain crop is expected to be about 12 million tonnes after drying and cleaning, according to the ministry's October 16 forecast, in which its grain shipment estimate was cut from an earlier target of 10 million tonnes.

Last year, the crop was a record 26.9 million tonnes, according to the ministry.

Kazakhstan has sufficient grain to meet domestic and export demand when this year's harvest is added to the 9.8 million tonnes of grain left from last year, Yevgeny Aman, the ministry's executive secretary, said October 16.