On June 3, 2019, there were negotiations held in Beijing between representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan and NC Food Contract Corporation JSC with the Chinese company Cofco Trading.
The Kazakhstan delegation was headed by Vice-Minister of Agriculture Isayeva G.S., the Chinese side was represented by the Deputy General Director of Cofco Trading Jiang Zaifeng. Director of Department of NC Food Contract Corporation JSC N. Mukhamejanov and the head of the office of NC Food Contract Corporation JSC in China T. Mendigaliev, the head of wheat trade department Sang Lei, manager Qie Huabing and specialists of Import / Export department Xu Yanjun and Chen Bin also participated in the negotiations.
It should be noted that this year marks 10 years since Cofco has begun importing Kazakh grain and processed products to China. The volume of the imported products amounted to more than 2 million tons.
At the meeting there were discussions regarding possibility of increasing the Kazakh grain and flour export to China.
One of the priority topics of the discussion was the method of grain dispatch in accordance with the amendments made to the minutes on phytosanitary requirements at the end of 2015, according to which the products could be dispatched not only in bags and grain carriers, but also in bulk in railway cars.
Traditionally, a large part of the grain is dispatched in bags and by increasing dispatch of grain in bulk, export volumes can be significantly increased, since this significantly reduces additional packaging costs.
In addition, the informational system of electronic grain notes and uniform automated management system (UAMS) informational system in which the necessary certificates are issued in electronic format was presented to the Chinese side. The Chinese side is interested in integration to speed up the exchange of necessary information.
There were also discussions regarding the technical capabilities of the Dostyk and Khorgos customs crossing points, and after modernization their capacity was increased to 1 million tons per year. Last year, Kazakhstan grain exports amounted to about 500 thousand tons.
For the current year, grain shipments in the amount of 80 thousand tons are planned through NC Food Contract Corporation JSC.