Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 12
By Rashid Shirinov – Trend:
In three quarters of 2018, Kazakh millers produced 3.05 million tons of flour, which is 1.9 percent more than in the same period last year, EnergyProm.kz reported.
Most of the flour was produced in Kostanay region (28 percent of the total production in the country – 854,300 tons), Shymkent (12.9 percent – 393,700 tons) and North Kazakhstan region (11 percent – 335,200 tons).
At the same time, the largest increase in flour production was observed in North Kazakhstan (26.9 percent year-on-year), West Kazakhstan (25.8 percent), and Almaty regions (18.5 percent).
In the domestic market of Kazakhstan, first-grade flour rose in price by 2.4 percent year-on-year, to 123.9 tenge per kilogram in October. Top-grade flour increased in price by 2.3 percent, to 154.5 tenge per kilogram. The highest prices for flour of both grades were recorded in Almaty and Aktau cities.
It is worth noting that in January-August, Kazakh flour millers covered the domestic demand by 99.9 percent. Exports accounted for 1.4 million tons (55.8 percent, up by 4.1 percent year-on-year) and domestic sales – for 1.1 million tons (44.2 percent, up by 4.4 percent).
The main importer of Kazakh flour for the first 8 months of 2018 was Afghanistan – 854,940 tons (almost 60 percent of total exports). However, this is 6.3 percent less than a year earlier.
Uzbekistan ranked second on the import of Kazakh flour – 464,560 tons (32.5 percent of total flour exports), which is 25.2 percent more than in the same period last year.
Official exchange rate on Nov. 12 is 372.65 KZT / USD.
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