Kazakhstan, Astana, April 2 / Trend, D. Mukhtarov /
Kazakh farmers will be provided with 360,000 ton of cheaper diesel fuel for the upcoming sowing season, that is the same as last year, the country's agriculture minister Asylzhan Mamytbekov said on Tuesday.
"Diesel fuel is already being sold at a fixed price which with consideration to transportation and operators' expenditures equals an average of 90 tenge per liter ($ 1 - 150, 8 tenge) for the farmers, or 11-12 percent lower than the average market price (102 tenge per liter)," Mamytbekov said.
According to him, the wholesale price of diesel fuel at the outlet from the oil refinery is 93,975 tenge per ton, or about 78 tenge per liter.
According to the minister, as of March 27 of this year, 49,500 tons of cheaper diesel fuel was shipped (or about 50 percent of projected volume for February and March).
"According to the regions, availability of seeds stands at 98.9 percent of need (given a need for 2.097 million tons, 2.074 million are available)," Mamytbekov said.
According to him, lack of seeds is expected to reach 32,400 tons (8.3 million tons in the Aktobe region, 4.8 tons in West Kazakhstan and 19.3 tons in Kostanay), of which 9,300 tons will be made up for by the resources of the regions, and 23,100 tons - from public seed resources (Food Corporation JSC has 21.3 million tons of seeds, including 10,700 tons in Akmola oblast, 400 tons in West Kazakhstan and 10,200 tons in Kostanay).
"To date, Food Corporation JSC has received 20 applications from farmers for grants of 21,000 tons of seeds from state resources. The issuance of seeds will be undertaken by the Food Corporation in the form of the seed loan of the second level guaranteed by the bank or sold prepaid," Mamytbekov said.