Kazakhstan’s December wheat exports hit a record high

Since the start of the MY 2025/26 (September–December), Kazakhstan has exported 4.1233 million tonnes of wheat (both soft and durum), which is almost 1.5 times more than in the same period of the previous season. In December, exports reached an all-time monthly record of 1.778 million tonnes, which is 2.1 times higher than in November and 1.85 times higher than in December of the MY 2024/25. This was reported by Yevgeny Karabanov, Head of the Analytics Committee of the Grain Union of Kazakhstan.

“Thus, about 50% of the wheat export potential has been shipped in the first four months of the current marketing year,” the expert noted.

According to the Grain Union, over the four-month period compared with the same period of the previous MY, exports increased to the following countries:

• Uzbekistan — up 76% (December MY 2025/26 marked an absolute record of 1.372 million tonnes);

• Kyrgyzstan — up 27%;

• Afghanistan — more than 1.8 times higher (128.4 thousand tonnes in December 2025/26 MY);

• Türkiye — up 27 times;

• Georgia — up 8.5 times.

In addition, since the beginning of the MY, Kazakh wheat has been shipped to countries that did not import it in September–December last year. Shipments amounted to 140 thousand tonnes to Algeria (56.5 thousand tonnes in December 2025), 56.5 thousand tonnes to Iran, 2.9 thousand tonnes to the Netherlands, and 2.2 thousand tonnes to Portugal.

At the same time, wheat exports declined to the following destinations:

• Turkmenistan — more than 2.7 times lower, to 8.7 thousand tonnes;

• Azerbaijan — down 34%, to 126.9 thousand tonnes;

• Tajikistan — down 6%, to 482.7 thousand tonnes;

• Latvia — almost 3.7 times lower, to 7.2 thousand tonnes;

• Italy — almost 6.7 times lower, to 9.4 thousand tonnes;

• Norway — more than 2.1 times lower, to 1.4 thousand tonnes.

Karabanov also noted that the more than 22-fold decline in wheat exports to China, to 5.9 thousand tonnes, was offset by an increase in feed flour shipments by 674.7 thousand tonnes compared with the same period of the previous MY.

The expert added that a steady upward trend in demand for Kazakh wheat is observed among key importers from Central Asia, primarily Uzbekistan.

“We are raising our previous forecast for total Kazakh wheat exports (soft plus durum) in the MY 2025/26 by 0.3 million tonnes, to 7.7 million tonnes,” Yevgeny Karabanov уточнив.

At the same time, according to him, wheat imports, mainly from Russia, amounted to 168.9 thousand tonnes in September–November 2025.

“Taking into account the pace of wheat and feed flour exports, we are increasing our previous forecast for wheat imports in the MY 2025/26 by 400 thousand tonnes, to 1 million tonnes,” the expert noted.

Tags: Kazakhstan, export, grain, wheat