Over half of Kazakhstan's wheat harvest corresponds to grade 3 in 2024 - deputy PM

ASTANA. Oct 23 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan's wheat harvest is 57% grade 3 this year compared to 35% last year, Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin said.

"I would say that the harvest is above average this year, not overly exceptional, though 57% is grade 3 wheat. We have not seen such a situation in a long time. A large portion was lower grades and off-grade last year, which significantly affected our export potential and the quality of several products," Zhumangarin said on Wednesday at a briefing.

Zhumangarin said that this has resulted in Kazakhstan's products being squeezed out of several markets, without specifying which ones.

"However, these are temporary processes. This will not happen this year. [...] The operations have been taken under strict control within both preserving the harvest, and now within harvesting season. I think that we will handle with the operations," Zhumangarin said.

Kazakhstan's farmers had previously confirmed that grade 4 wheat would be mainly represented on the grain market.

Kazakhstan has completed the grain harvest, milling 26.5 million tonnes, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov said on Wednesday.

Kazakhstan's potential for exporting grain crops is estimated at 12 million tonnes for the 2024 harvest, including 7-7.5 million tonnes of wheat, 1.3-1.4 million tonnes of barley, and 300,000 tonnes of corn, and the potential for exporting oilseeds is projected to exceed 1 million tonnes as well, Deputy Trade and Integration Minister Kairat Torebayev said earlier.

Kazakhstan's farmers threshed 16.6 million tonnes of grain in 2023, including wheat totaling 12.11 million tonnes, and the average grain yield was 9.7 c/ha. Farmers harvested 21.6 million tonnes of grain in 2022.