The food corporation intends to supply up to 200,000 tons of Kazakh grain to the Shandong province of China. Corresponding intentions of the Corporation were fixed in the memorandum of cooperation with Binzhou Zhongyu Foods.
According to the press service of the Food Corporation, the memorandum was signed in Almaty during the meeting of the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan Yerbol Karashukeev and the Secretary of the Party Committee of the Communist Party of China of Shandong Province Lin Wu. The parties discussed the potential for increasing the volume of annual grain supplies to 1 million tons and more.
According to the agreements, the Food Corporation exports up to 200 thousand tons of grade 3 wheat to the Chinese market,” the Food Corporation noted.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Agriculture, Yerbol Karashukeev at a meeting with Lin Wu said that Kazakhstan is ready to offer a wide range of high-quality agricultural products. In addition to grain, the republic can sell chilled meat products to China.
The parties also discussed the possibility of joint scientific activities in the agro-industrial complex. This year, the Ministry of Agriculture has developed a draft Comprehensive Plan for the development of breeding and primary seed production of agricultural crops, the main task of which will be the creation of competitive new generation varieties with high productivity potential. Yerbol Karashukeev also stressed the need to develop academic mobility, scientific internships for faculty, scientists from research institutes and university students.
The intentions were sealed by a memorandum between the Kazakh Agrotechnical Research University and the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The parties will conduct joint research and development in seed production. As Yerbol Karashukeev noted, such interaction can give good results due to the synergy of domestic and Chinese varieties.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, from January to June 2023, trade in agricultural products between Kazakhstan and China amounted to $578.5 million, which is 72.7% more than in the same period in 2022. The main volume of exports to China falls on grain crops and oil of various types, Kazakhstan imports vegetables and nuts.
Shandong is the fourth province in terms of trade with Kazakhstan after XUAR, Beijing and Gansu province. Last year, the trade turnover amounted to $2 billion.