Kazakhstan, central Asia's largest grain producer, is expected to harvest around 15 million tonnes of grain by bunker weight this year, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said on Tuesday, giving the first official estimate of the crop. "We believe that this year's crop will be above average," the official told Reuters, requesting anonymity. "Wheat traditionally makes up around 90 percent of the crop, so we expect it will weigh in at some 13.5 million tonnes or more."
After drying and cleaning, clean-weight grain harvests in Kazakhstan are typically 5 to 10 percent smaller than bunker-weight crops. Hit by a severe drought, Kazakhstan's grain harvest more than halved to 12.9 million tonnes by clean weight last year from a post-Soviet record of 27.0 million tonnes in 2011.
"This year's crop is in a good condition," the official said. "It has rained alot so far this year, and the weather forecast for the upcoming week is also good, so we are in an optimistic mood for the time being." Kazakhstan is the size of Western Europe but populated by only 17 million. Millions of hectares of land were sown for grain during the Soviet Union's "Virgin Lands" campaign in the 1950-60s.
The region's main grain belt is in the north, and in neighbouring Russia's Urals and Siberian regions. "Weather forecasters expect rains and thunder storms in the main grain-growing areas next week, which is good for our future bread, although rains are a bit late this year which has affected wheat productivity. But in general we expect a good year," the Kazakh official said.
"Grain harvesting in the main grain belt usually gets under way in mid-August plus-minus 10 days, and then massive harvesting lasts for all of September. If the weather brings no surprise, it will be the same this year." Reflecting a lower crop decimated by drought, Kazakhstan's grain exports dropped sharply to 7.1 million tonnes in the 2012/13 marketing year from a record 12.1 million tonnes in the previous crop season.
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