By the end of 2010, Kazakhstan will have boosted grain flour exports by nearly one-third over 2009 figures, the countrys Agriculture Ministry announced on Monday.
Central Asia's largest nation, which is the size of Western Europe, will export 8.6 million tons of grain and flour by the end of this year, Agriculture Minister Akylbek Kurishbaev said.
"That is a 29.4 percent increase over 2009," he said.
The increase partly reflects a better harvest and the republics response to drought and wildfires during summer months.
Preliminary data from across the republic show general grain production volumes as reaching 13.7 million tons in bunker weight.
"The Statistics Agency put the total volume of grain as of December 1 at 10.4 million tons, enough to satisfy domestic demands to the 2011 harvest as well as keep exports levels over the 6.9 million ton target for any 12-month period," the agrimarket.info website Monday reported the Agriculture Ministry chief as saying.
Soaring temperatures sparking wildfires across Russia this summer destroyed huge areas of wheat crops prompting the major wheat producer to institute a moratorium on exports in order to satisfy domestic needs.
Moscow called for customs union partner countries Russia and Belarus to follow.
International wheat prices rose in response.
But rather than comply with Russia, Kazakhstan permitted its own grain traders to take advantage of the higher prices by increasing exports.
Kazakhstan is a leading exporter of wheat flour with Central Asian countries Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan as its primary buyers.
