Lack of quotas harms import of foreign harvesters to Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan Agriculture Ministry has called the government to accelerate introduction of quotas on import of combine harvesters, Tengrinews.kz reports from the government meeting. "The issue of providing Kazakhstan with a quota on import of combine harvesters has still not been resolved. The Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission increased the duty on import of harvester combines and their modules to the territory of the Customs Union (Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus) from 5 percent to 32.5 percent starting from February 25 this year. This will have a negative effect on the local agricultural producers," Kazakhstan Agriculture Minister Assylzhan Mamytbekov said. According to him, the Ministry suggested a compromise and called to introduce a special quota allowing to import the harvesters at old customs duties to retain the capacities of Kazakhstan agricultural producers. "However, the issue still remains unsolved. In this relation we are asking the government to render support in accelerating introduction of this quota," the Minister said. However, the efforts of Kazakhstan government alone may not be enough to move the situation forward. Decisions on quotas in the Customs Union are taken by the Eurasian Economic Commission which is called to balance interests of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. But both Russia and especially Belarus are major producers of harvests, tractors and other agricultural machinery. Needless to say they are interesting in keeping the Kazakhstan market to themselves rather then admitting any competition, which comes mainly from the west. Western-made harvesters are traditionally considered of a better quality but more expensive. By Altynai Zhumzhumina