Ukrainian consulting company told about the prospects of exports from Kazakhstan

Ukrainian consulting agency UkrAgroConsult named the most promising crops for export from Kazakhstan, World of NAN reports.

Export from Kazakhstan is mainly carried out by rail and road transport. We can't actively export our products to distant foreign countries, because the price of the product becomes non-competitive in the market. Therefore, the main export customers of Kazakhstan wheat are Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and China.

Kazakhstan plans to expand exports by building a terminal on the Caspian Sea with an annual capacity of 1m tonnes and simultaneous storage of 25,000 tonnes of grain, the consulting agency said. This will allow the country to export wheat to Iran, the Caucasus and third countries, so wheat can be called a crop that will never lose demand.

Wheat has always been the main crop of Kazakh farmers, but today there is a growing demand for other products. For example, according to a consulting agency, China has quadrupled its purchases of barley, allowing Kazakh farmers to increase their share of Kazakhstani exports from 7% to 20%. However, Kazakhstan's share of the Chinese market is very small, so other countries, which can supply large batches, have taken advantage of the increase in demand.

The consulting agency predicts that China will increase barley imports, as the country plans to reduce the share of corn in feed production. Therefore, barley is a very promising crop for export. However, according to Kazakh farmers, China is a very difficult and capricious customer, so there may be difficulties in exporting, also the PRC market is highly competitive.

Ukrainian analysts stressed that Iran remains Kazakhstan's No. 1 barley buyer. Kazakhstan will be able to boost its export potential, but everything depends on the pricing environment, will Iran really want to increase imports of this crop from all suppliers? Iran is increasing imports only from the EU because of the attractive price. Therefore, Kazakh exporters need to reassure themselves and try to establish trade with China.

The Chinese market is huge and demanding, but there are crops in Kazakhstan that the Chinese have to fight for. For example, flax, which is the main oilseed crop in Kazakhstan.

According to Ukrainian analysts, the area of oilseed flax in Kazakhstan has grown enormously. As such, according to their data for the last 13 years the area has grown from 13 thousand hectares to 1.5 million hectares. Growth in yield, among other things, provided by more stable yields in recent years. In 2020, a record harvest of 1058 million tons was obtained. Analysts expect the area of oilseeds to exceed 3 million hectares.

Traditionally, more than half of all flax exports from Kazakhstan go to EU countries. However, the Chinese market, opened only last season, successfully competes for the volume of Kazakhstani flax. The growth of exports in relation is 49%. about 100 thousand tons against 67 thousand tons. Thus, China's market share in the current September-April season has increased to 31% compared to 23% in 2019/20 MY.

These three crops will be provided with constant demand. However, this does not mean that all agrarians should only grow these crops. Because demand changes every day and we could easily lose established markets. In addition, the domestic market should not be forgotten, which also provides farmers with a constant demand.