Kazakhstan imposes wheat import ban to protect domestic market

KAZAKHSTAN —The Kazakh Ministry of Agriculture has announced a ban on wheat imports from August 21, 2024, until December 31, 2024, a move aimed at protecting Kazakhstan’s domestic market.

This measure applies to all countries, including Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) members, such as Russia, Belarus, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan. However, the ban does not affect the transit of wheat through Kazakhstan.

In the first half of 2024, Kazakhstan imported 1.3 million tons of wheat, almost equal to the total imports for the previous year.

The country currently has substantial wheat reserves, totaling 5.1 million tons as of July 1, 2024, with 4 million tons reserved for food use.

Due to favorable weather conditions, Kazakhstan expects a bumper grain harvest this year, which would likely create an excess supply in the domestic market, exacerbating the competition for local producers.

Kazakhstan’s total area under grain crops this year is 16.7 million hectares. Regarding wheat production, Kazakhstan is in 14th place in the world, with a production volume of more than 12 million tons per year.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), this year’s wheat production is projected to reach 15.8 million tons, significantly higher than the 12.1 million tons produced in 2023.

Despite the anticipated record harvest, Kazakhstan faces challenges in exporting wheat due to declining demand from traditional markets such as Iran and ongoing transit and trade barriers in China and Russia.

As a result, Kazakh farmers are concerned that harvest pressure combined with these export difficulties could lead to a decline in prices.

Additionally, the government has extended the import ban to cover all modes of transportation, previously limited to road, rail, and water, to address the high volume of wheat imports from Russia, which reached 1.1 million tons in the first half of the year.

There are also ongoing discussions within the government about introducing an export duty on certain agricultural goods, though this proposal has met with resistance from the agricultural sector.

Barley production in Kazakhstan is also expected to rise to 3.4 million tons, with exports estimated at 1.6 million tons, as part of the overall positive outlook for the 2024-25 season.

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