Kazakhstan, Astana, Oct 11 /Trend D.Mukhtarov/
A subsidiary of the national railway company of Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan Temir Joly-JSC Kaztemirtrans, and Kazakhstan's national grain company, Food Corporation, agreed on the delivery of a new crop from northern regions to the west and south for the state reserve, Director of Kaztemirtrans Kanat Kobesov told Trend on Thursday.
"We already have the contract specifying the details of our future cooperation. [...]This is a strategically important task for today, despite a shortage of railcars," Kobesov said.
He noted that all the elevators are full to the brim in the main northern grain-producing regions. Therefore, the Food Corporation is urgently trying to save the harvest by resolving grain transfers to free elevators located in the west and south.
About 350,000 tons of the total 500,000 tons of grain have already been successfully transferred. The remaining 150,000 tons will be transferred by Kaztemirtrans by November 15, Kobesov said.
According to the Regional Department of Agriculture, agricultural producers harvested 15,229,100 hectares on October 8, with an average yield of 9.4 tons per hectare. This amounts to 98.9 percent of the harvested area.
Last year, Kazakhstan harvested a record 26 million tons of grain. Low harvest this season is due to the drought, which was observed in the summer in main grain regions. The outlook for the harvest this year is 14 million tons.