KAZAKHSTAN (4 October)
Latest reports indicate that cereal harvesting is nearly complete throughout Kazakhstan and the harvest is estimated at about 13.3 million tonnes, more than 700 000 tonnes up on last year but nearly 860 000 tonnes down on the average of the past five years. The aggregate cereal harvest this year includes some 10.7 million tonnes of wheat, 1.6 million tonnes of barley and 420 000 tonnes of maize. This year Western Kazakhstan suffered significantly reduced precipitation and some crops have been compromised. Kazakhstan is set to export some 4.4 million tonnes of wheat, 246 000 tonnes of barley and some 22 000 tonnes of maize during the 2005/06 marketing year. Cereal exports during the 2004/05 marketing year totalled some 4.2 million tonnes.