1.5-2 million tons of Kazakh wheat will be sent to Western Afghanistan and Eastern Iran. This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin during his speech at an extended meeting of the Committee on Agrarian Issues in the Majilis. This is reported by Inbusiness.kz.
"6-8 million tons of wheat will be delivered to our traditional markets, the countries of Central Asia. For example, I visited Uzbekistan, we agreed to send 3.5 million tons of wheat there. Previously, Kyrgyzstan bought 500 thousand tons of wheat from us, but recently they have not been able to accept so much. They gradually began to accept. Tajikistan buys wheat well. And we will send two million tons of wheat to China," Zhumangarin said.
As for new export routes, he said that at the beginning of the year, Kazakh grain returned to the Iranian market.
"It's been 3-4 years since we stopped transporting wheat there. At the beginning of next year, there will be a meeting in Xinjiang (China). I plan to go there. The head of Hong Kong and the head of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region will also come there," Zhumangarin added.
There are also plans to export wheat to Hong Kong and Vietnam, he said.
"In the next two months, 2.1 million tons of wheat will be exported via railways. If this trend continues, then in the future we will be able to export about 12 million tons of wheat," the deputy prime minister specified.
Chairman of the Board of JSC Food Contract Corporation Asylkhan Dzhuvashev reported that five export contracts worth 20 million dollars have already been concluded.
"We are currently concluding a contract with a Tajik company for an additional 100 thousand tons. I think we need subsidized transportation costs to compete on the external market – this is the most important option now. Yes, we will purchase grain from the direct market. But, in fact, it will pass from the farmer to us. This will not greatly affect the formation of the price. To strengthen the market, we need to export grain, which means we need export subsidies," Dzhuvashev suggested.
He also added that “this year there was a proposal to sell at least 200-300 thousand tons of grain to nearby markets, then the elevators will be unloaded and the price formation will begin.”
With which countries have negotiations on exports already been held: Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, Dzhuvashev answered. According to him, 250 thousand tons of wheat per month will be supplied to these four countries. The contract was concluded in November.
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