IKAR in Mass and Industry Media

Rail car shortage cuts Kazakh grain export forecast

Reuters

ASTANA, April 17 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's grain exports will fall at least 20 percent short of its forecast this season due to a shortage of rail cars, even as Russian port capacity frees up to allow more Kazakh grain to leave the Black Sea, an Agriculture Ministry official said.

The Central Asian state will ship 11 million to 12 million tonnes of grain in the marketing year to June 30, below its previous forecast of 15 million tonnes, said Anna Buts, director of the ministry's land development department, on Tuesday.

"If there had been no delays in sourcing rail cars, we should have been able to load this amount," Buts said, referring to the 15 million-tonne grain export potential previously quoted by ministry officials.

"The March holidays affected work at elevators and on the railways, and the tempo slowed a little," she told reporters.

Kazakhstan, which ranks among the world's top 10 wheat exporters, has been struggling with logistical bottlenecks this season to export a record post-Soviet harvest of 27 million tonnes. Vast distances to Black Sea ports and a shortage of rail cars hamper shipments.

Buts said the former Soviet republic had exported 8.4 million tonnes of grain between July 1, the start of the current marketing year, and April 1.

Most of its grain has gone to traditional markets in Central Asia and Iran, Buts said. Kazakhstan also shipped 90,000 tonnes of grain overland to China, she said, deliveries that were subsidised by the state.

More Kazakh grain should leave the Black Sea region toward the end of the current marketing year as Russian port capacity frees up, she said.

"Russia is now finishing loading its export potential, so ports could become accessible," Buts said. "Global demand for grain is growing, and we hope that we can load more."

Novorossiisk, Russia's main deep water port on the Black Sea, will reduce Russian grain shipments in April after concluding existing wheat supply contracts to Egypt's main government grain buyer, Moscow-based analysts SovEcon said this week.

The Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) added that Russia had last week shipped its last vessel in line with GASC contracts.

17.04.12

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