New export strategy of Kazakhstan

In 2019, 19.1 million tons of grain were milled in Kazakhstan, with average yields of 12.6 c/ha. This is almost 3 million tons less than the 2018 grain harvest. This indicates that export potential will be reduced in 2019-2020 export year. These are official data from the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan. This is another factor that is not in favor of our grain producers. In those countries to which we traditionally have exported domestic grain, the last year's harvest was good. It should be said that in recent years, and the farmers themselves confirm that the quality of wheat is declining.

Photo by agapas.kz

The weather conditions are the key factor. 2019 was not an easy year for the farmers. Winter with little snow, dry summer and a rainy autumn. All this plays against the farmers. This situation makes us look for new approaches in implementing the country's export strategy. The main task, according to Saparkhan Omarov, is to change the export policy. According to him, this year the domestic export strategy will be revised, it will be different from the previous years. If before, the task was to expand export destinations for domestic wheat, now it is necessary: "To maintain our position in traditional markets for Kazakh grain: the Central Asian countries - Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, as well as Afghanistan and Iran," the Minister of Agriculture explained at the government meeting.

Exports in marketing year 2019-2020

If in 2017/18 marketing year, according to "Prodkorporatsiya", Kazakhstan supplied more than 10.6 million tons of grain to foreign markets. The goal this year is to export over 5m tonnes of grain. Although the initial goal for 2019-2020 was to export about 9m tons of grain. However, these figures were reduced as well. Then, in September 2019, the International Grain Council published an analytical material from which it appeared that Kazakhstan's export potential was 7.6m tons. And barley - about 2 million tons, other cereals - about 300 thousand tons.

So where Kazakhstan’s grain is being exported to?

In the first nine months of 2019, the republic supplied wheat to foreign markets worth over 711 million US dollars. Revenue from the export of goods increased by more than 16%. The geography of Kazakhstan's grain exports is quite substantial. First of all, the wheat is bought by our neighboring countries in the Central Asian region. Up to 80% of domestic grain goes to Central Asian states. Thus, Uzbekistan purchased it most, over 35%, followed by Afghanistan - 18% and Tajikistan - 17%. In autumn 2018, Turkmenistan joined this list for the first time in many years. Exactly one year ago, the first batch of domestic grain was purchased by Iran. In 2019, Kazakhstan imported almost 300 thousand tons of wheat to Azerbaijan. And this is almost 30% more than a year earlier. The value in question is $58.5 million. China is a very promising avenue for export. Especially here, the volume of shipments is steadily increasing every year. If our country supplied 307 thousand tons of wheat to China in 2017, in 2019 this figure exceeded 560 thousand tons. This year, even more ambitious goals are being set. Kazakhstan intends to supply 1m tons of wheat to China. Mainly, wheat is supplied to the neighboring country by farmers from Akmola, Kostanai and North Kazakhstan regions. Thus, head of the state Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, speaking at the Kazakh-Chinese business council, has told that our republic can increase the export of wheat to China by 3,5 times, bringing the total volume of grain export to 2 million tons. In addition, wheat from our country is purchased by Egypt, Algeria, Turkey, South Africa, Bangladesh, Georgia, Latvia, the Philippines, Italy, Vietnam and other countries.