10 Feb 2017 15:04

US Agriculture Department lowers forecast for Kazakh wheat harvest and exports

ALMATY. Feb 10 (Interfax) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has downwardly revised its forecast for Kazakhstan's wheat harvest during this marketing year (July 2016 - June 2017) from 16.5 million tonnes to 14.99 million tonnes.

Kazakhstan's wheat export forecast is down by 11.8% from 8.5 million tonnes to 7.5 million tonnes, while the wheat import forecast is left unchanged at 60,000 tonnes.

Kazakhstan's Agriculture Ministry forecasts that grain exports will increase from last year's 8.4 million tonnes to 8.5-9 million tonnes in the 2016/17 marketing year.

In 2016, Kazakhstan produced over 23.7 million tonnes of grain and legume plants, 18.5% up from 2015.