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Kazakhstan fails to deliver grain to North Africa

Business Materials 16 January 2011 15:31 (UTC +04:00)
At present, Kazakh grain can not be delivered to the market in North Africa, managing director for foreign economic activity of the Kazakh National Grain Company JSC "Food Contract Corporation" Daulet Uvashev told Trend.
Kazakhstan fails to deliver grain to North Africa

Kazakhstan, Astana, Jan. 16 / Trend A. Maratov /

At present, Kazakh grain can not be delivered to the market in North Africa, managing director for foreign economic activity of the Kazakh National Grain Company JSC "Food Contract Corporation" Daulet Uvashev told Trend.

"In 2009 Kazakh grain was supplied to Egypt. But there was a sharp decline in grain production in 2010, due to which large quantities of grain are not supplied to distant countries", Uvashev said.

He said that Kazakh wheat is not supplied to Egypt, which is the world's largest buyer of grain, because domestic price on grain in Kazakhstan is more than the world one.

"The price at any Kazakh elevator is slightly higher than on the world market. We are not competitive on the markets of Egypt and Saudi Arabia," the managing director said.

According to his calculations, today shipping costs for Kazakh grain are very high.

"The prices on transportation via the Russian railways increased from January. The logistics increased up to $ 18 per ton. In general, the delivery of our grain to Black Sea ports hits $110- 120 per ton ", the managing director said.

He said that the French and the Americans win the tenders carried out by Egypt.

"It is too early to say whether we can enter the market in North Africa because the prices on our domestic markets are growing rapidly following the world ones," he said.

Moreover, today 50 percent of the Egyptian market gained the grain from Russia. He recalled that Egypt imports up to 8 million tons of wheat annually.

According to official information from the Kazakh Ministry of Agriculture, the republic has 9.3 million tons of grain as of early 2011. Roughly 2.6 million tons are grain of the stabilization fund, which is sold today to flour mills at a fixed price.

Kazakh Minister of Agriculture Akylbek Kurishbayev said that this volume is quite enough to fully meet the needs of the country in bread till the next harvest.

The fixed price determined by the government amounted to 26,500 tenge per ton (approximately $ 180 per ton). The company can sell grain only at this price.

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