Kazakhstan is ready to increase wheat exports to China says Deputy Chairman of the Food Corporation NC JSC, Samat Tenbaev, QazMonitor reports.
"We have observed increasing competition over the last two to three years in Kazakhstan's traditional markets for the sale of wheat and processed products, particularly in Central Asia. We currently ship up to 5 million tons to that region. In light of the heightened competition, we have been actively working on opening the Chinese market since April," stated Samat Tenbaev during a briefing at the Central Communications Service.
According to him, a total of 500 thousand tons of Kazakhstan’s wheat has already been shipped to China since the beginning of 2023.
This is not exclusive to the Food Contract Corporation; other companies are also making shipments. Our immediate goal is to increase the export volume to one million tons. Moreover, China has the potential to purchase up to 3.5 million tons from us.
Earlier, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev outlined the priority areas of cooperation between Central Asian countries and China during the first China-Central Asia Summit.
"Trade volume with China is rapidly growing in the region. By the end of last year, this figure had reached 70 billion dollars, with Kazakhstan accounting for 45% of it. I believe that all the necessary conditions are in place to sustain this positive trend and achieve a trade turnover of up to 100 billion dollars by 2030," said the Head of State. He emphasized the importance of increasing exports by diversifying the trade portfolio. For instance, Kazakhstan has the potential to increase exports to China across 135 non-resource commodities.