To expand the geography of flour exports, Kazakhstan should expand its program to subsidize transportation costs for wheat flour exports to new, non-traditional markets, under the same conditions as the subsidized transportation costs for wheat exports. This opinion was voiced by Yevgeny Karabanov, Head of the Analytical Committee of the Kazakhstan Grain Union (KGU), on his Telegram channel.
He clarified that wheat flour production in 2024/25 MY amounted to approximately 3.47 million tons, 4% more than in 2023/24 MY and almost matching the best result over the past six seasons, achieved in 2022/23 MY.
The share of flour exports in total production in the past MY was 49% – 1,815 thousand tons (August excluding the EAEU countries), which is 3.7% less than in the previous MY, but 2% higher than the six-year average.
E. Karabanov noted that the main buyers of this product were Afghanistan – 1.075 million tons (59% of total exports), Uzbekistan – 437 thousand tons (24%), and Tajikistan – 49 thousand tons. Afghanistan reduced its purchases of Kazakh flour by 15% due to an increase in flour imports from Uzbekistan (which is produced primarily from Kazakh wheat). Wheat flour was also exported to Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and China, which significantly increased their flour imports from Kazakhstan.
Flour imports, primarily from Russia, amounted to 34 thousand tons, more than half the amount in the previous marketing year.
The ZSK forecasts that flour production in the current marketing year will reach 3.4 million tons, and exports will reach 1.85 million tons.