Kazakhstan plans to build a grain export terminal at the Latvian port of Ventspils on the Baltic by February next year, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Express-K daily quoted Kazakh Agriculture Minister Akhmetzhan Yesimov as saying the new $26-million export terminal would handle 2.5 million tonnes of grain a year, of which two million would come from Kazakhstan.
The rest would be exported by neighbouring states.
"Latvia, which is joining the European Union, and its Ventspils port, which never freezes, are well suited for our plans," the paper quoted Yesimov as saying.
Kazakhstan plans to produce 13.5 million tonnes of grain this year, down from 14.8 million in 2003.
Kazakhstan's grain exports more than doubled in February to 368,600 tonnes from 163,700 in January, the agriculture ministry said earlier this month.