Exports of Kazakhstan’s key agricultural product – wheat – have plunged by almost 40% during the first eight months of 2024 over the previous year’s total for the same period. The price of Kazakh wheat is being undercut by Russia. 

Kazakh farmers exported just over 3mn tonnes of wheat during the January-August timeframe, Vice Minister of Trade and Integration Kairat Torebayev announced at a government meeting. The lower export volume was due in part to a comparatively modest harvest. But Torebayev added that traditional buyers, including neighbouring Central Asian states, Afghanistan and Italy, have reduced their consumption of Kazakh wheat due to price dumping by Russia.

According to the first deputy chairman of the Auyl agrarian party, Toleutai Rakhimbekov, Kazakh grain cannot compete with Russian grain, which is 1.5 times cheaper. “The quality of Russian grain is much higher, because Russian farmers use fertilisers, pesticides, update seeds and equipment more than ours,” the agricultural news site APK Novosti quoted Rakhimbekov as saying.

Rakhimbekov said an increase in government subsidies would be needed to enable Kazakh farmers to regain wheat markets. Russia has added to the challenges by imposing a ban on imports of wheat and other products from Kazakhstan as of October 17, citing “phytosanitary safety.” Russian regulators did not specify how long the ban would remain in place. 

Kazakh MPs say the ban is unjustified and are pressing the government to take up the matter with Russian authorities.

Carving out new markets is proving challenging for Kazakhstan. Farmers had pinned their hopes on China, as wheat exports grew more than five-fold in 2023 over the previous year’s total, reaching about 1.5mn tonnes. But in August, Beijing unilaterally imposed a sharp increase in duties on Kazakh wheat, effectively slowing exports to a trickle. The Kazakh government is working to troubleshoot the tariff issue. 

Kazakhstan currently has plans to resume grain supplies to Iran and explore exports to Pakistan, Indonesia, Brazil and Malaysia.

Almaz Kumenov is an Almaty-based journalist.

This article first appeared on Eurasianet here.