China will start importing Kazakh grain in larger volumes

Kazakhstan is increasing shipments of grain cargoes to the People’s Republic of China. The National Railroad Carrier KTZ informed the representatives of the grain forum, which was held last week in China. According to KTZh, last year the Republic of China increased the volume of shipments to China by 35%. Most of all wheat and barley were shipped to China, the agency “APK News Kazakhstan” reports.

According to the information of KTZh, the volume of transportation of various cargoes between the countries last year amounted to more than 28 million tons. The growth in comparison with 2022 is 22%. This is a recent record high. Export shipments of Kazakhstani cargoes to the PRC grew by an appreciable 35%, the volume of shipments amounted to 12.6 million tons. The most frequent purchases of wheat and barley from the PRC were wheat and barley. In 2023, Kazakhstan’s grain cargo exports tripled (!) and amounted to 2 million 200 thousand tons.

In addition to representatives of KTZ, the forum was attended by the management of the state company Prodkorporatsiya. As its representative stated, wheat is one of the main crops imported by China, and it was of particular interest at the meeting. Last year shipments of Kazakhstani wheat amounted to about 600 thousand tons. And for the first quarter of this year – already 220 thousand tons. At the same time, the representative of the management of Prodkorporatsiya said that for 5 years the supplies of Kazakhstani crop products have grown 4.6 times and reached the volume of 3.5 million tons. It was noted that the Chinese produce from Kazakh barley barley flakes, which are particularly popular in the country.

Earlier, the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported that the export potential for grain is 10 million tons, traders and producers are ready to ship this volume, but there are a number of restrictions on the part of Chinese partners. At the forum, the parties agreed to increase the supply of agricultural products to China. Agreements were reached to create a special working group for more prompt resolution of emerging issues in grain transportation.

Tags: China, Kazakhstan, grain, wheat