Half of the wheat harvested in Kazakhstan is of poor quality

This season, Kazakhstan found itself in a difficult position as the quality of the harvested grain suffered greatly due to the rainy fall. As a result, although the country’s farmers harvested 10 million tons of wheat, only half of it has milling qualities. The remaining 5 million tons are either fodder or low-grade grain suitable only for deep processing.

The government’s main task today is to support farmers by creating conditions for selling the meager harvest at a fair price. Otherwise, the ability of farmers to pay off their current obligations and prepare for the 2024 planting season will be in question.

Obviously, the country’s main task now is to find somewhere to put these 5 million tons of low-quality wheat. It is impossible to process it within Kazakhstan – the country’s grain processing enterprises are not capable of doing so due to technological backwardness. Therefore, there is only one way out – export. There is a demand for low-grade grain, and China is ready to take it in any volume and process it into high value-added products. Central Asian countries are also interested, as they can use the “substandard” grain for feed.

And this is a chance for Kazakhstan’s farmers: stable exporters’ demand for low-quality grain will support domestic prices and allow farmers to earn money.

The only question is the capacity of the railway infrastructure.

As you know, the capacity of Kazakhstan’s railway infrastructure is about 1 million tons of wheat and flour in grain equivalent per month. And if Kazakhstan wants to get rid of low-quality grain, it must almost completely dedicate its railroad capacity to its loading. In this situation, the government should clearly prioritize the exporters’ queue. The first place should be given to those that will ship low-quality grain abroad.

Tags: wheat, grain quality, Kazakhstan