Grain harvest expected at 16-17 million tons: Agriculture Ministry

Grain harvest in Kazakhstan is expected to reach 16-17 million tons, Anna Buts, Head of the Crop Farming Development Department of the country’s Agriculture Ministry, told journalists July 25. She emphasized that at the moment 96-98% of all the lands under grain crops are either in good or satisfactory condition. “Should the rainy weather persist, we will have problems harvesting. It is impossible to precisely forecast the weather. The ultimate harvest is going to be at least at the average level for the last decade”, she said. She added that “it’s too early to estimate the bunker weight”. At the same time she admitted that at this time last year the state of the lands under crops was far worse due to drought that hit three regions, including grain belts of Akmolinsk and Kostanai oblasts. Anna Buts had told journalists July 14 that Kazakhstan exported 5.9 million tons of grain in the 2010-2011 marketing year. According to her, this figure included grain equivalent of exported flour (2.5 million tons). Ms. Buts elaborated that grain was traditionally exported to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan. According to the Government’s web-site, grain harvest in 2010 totaled 12.2 million tons (net weight). Grain harvest of 2009 made up 22.7 million tons (bunker weight).