353 thousand hectares of grain written off because of drought in Kazakhstan

353 thousand hectares of grains will be written off because of the drought in Kazakhstan, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Kazakhstan Minister of Agriculture Assylzhan Mamytbekov. “The drought especially severely effected the grain crops in Kostanay oblast where only 18 percent of the crops can be saved. According to the preliminary results, 353 thousand hectares of grains have to be written off,” Minister said at the government meeting. “Bread and flour prices rise has been registered in some of the regions. The prices went up sharply. Bread prices also went up in Kostanay oblast. According to Pavlodar bread producing complex, the reason for bread prices growth lays in the rise for prices of key ingredients, fuel and power. The price escalation is not noticeable in southern part of Kostanay and Akmola oblasts,” Mamytbekov said and added that 33 percent of the lands under grain crop are in good condition, 55 percent are in satisfactory condition and 12 percent are in bad condition in Kazakhstan. 94 thousand hectares of crops have died. By Renat Tashkinbayev