November 21, 2011

Kazakhstan to stop grain export licenses issuance

In an attempt to ease administrative pressure on its agriculture sector, Kazakhstan will stop issuing licenses for grain exports from February 1, the Ukrainian Grain Association said Friday (Nov 18).

The UGA said the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan plans to cancel issuing the licenses to "ease the work of entrepreneurs."

Currently, traders are required to have a license to export grains from Kazakhstan, which takes around 10 days after appropriate documents are provided to the government, the UGA said.

Cheaper wheat from the Black Sea region is giving European grain a run for its money, with production in the Commonwealth of Independent States, a regional organisation of former Soviet countries, exceeding expectations.

Last week the USDA said it expects Kazakhstan to reap 21 million tonnes of wheat in 2011-12, and export around 11 million tonnes.

Kazakhstan's total grain harvest was 12.2 million tonnes last year because of drought, and the country exported only 5.9 million tonnes of grain in 2010-11.