Mazhilis deputies are asking to cancel the export customs duty on sunflower seeds from February of this year. The corresponding request addressed to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov was voiced by Majilisman Serik Egizbaev.
According to him, the total sunflower reserves at the end of 2023 amounted to more than 322 thousand tons, of which more than 68 thousand tons are in the warehouses of creameries.
“This is a two-month supply of raw materials for the production and supply of sunflower oil to the domestic market. At the same time, the volume of sunflower processing in the fourth quarter of 2023 amounted to an average of 94 thousand tons per month, with the domestic market demand being 38 thousand tons per month,” the deputy said.
Egizbaev noted that taking into account carry-over reserves, the annual total supply of sunflower, taking into account imports, amounted to about 1 million tons, which is more than twice the need for raw materials for the production and supply of sunflower oil to the domestic market.
“It should be separately noted that from 2022 to the current season, the total export volume of shelled sunflower, which is produced and exported only by oil factories, has increased from 4 to 26%. That is, it turns out that oil factories can export sunflowers, but farmers who bear all the costs and risks of growing them cannot. Where is the justice and logic in the government’s actions?” the deputy asks.
According to his information, sunflower production from 2019-2023 increased from 840 thousand to 1.3 million tons, or by 55%. Despite this, in 2021 the government introduced export quotas, and from 2023, an export customs duty on the export of seeds in the amount of 20% of the contract value, but not less than 100 euros per ton. At the same time, the annual import of seeds from Russia reached a record 230 thousand tons.
“The introduction of an export duty and an increase in imports led to the collapse of purchase prices for domestic farmers for sunflower seeds below the level of profitability. Farmers at meetings with deputies demand to explain the government’s actions in the interests of a limited number of sunflower oil producing enterprises to the detriment of hundreds of farms and at the same time calling on them to diversify their crop rotations,” he said.
At the same time, according to him, in addition to the regions traditionally growing sunflower, farmers from northern Kazakhstan - Kostanay and Karaganda regions - have shown interest in this crop, respectively, increasing their sown areas.
“That is, a situation has arisen when farmers are called upon to abandon monocultures, the carry-over reserves of which annually reach millions of tons, and when farmers agree and rebuild the entire technology of their work, include expensive technical re-equipment, such traps are set for them. The question arises: how honest is this relationship? As a result, the clumsy actions of authorized government bodies led to an acute shortage of working capital among farmers on the eve of spring field work and brought many farms to the brink of bankruptcy. In such a situation, selling sunflower seeds for export could be a saving solution for them,” Egizbaev said.
In this regard, deputies consider it advisable to cancel the export duty on sunflower exports from February of this year.
“This will allow farmers to sell products that are in demand in Uzbekistan and China at a fair price. The difference between the domestic and export prices today is about 60 thousand tenge per ton. And taking into account the export potential of sunflower in the amount of more than 226 thousand tons, farmers can receive additional income in the amount of more than 13 billion tenge,” he said.
The deputies also called for a prompt discussion of this issue at the NCE Atameken site.