Uzbekistan significantly increases import of Kazakh rice

In January-April, Kazakh farmers exported 32.68 thousand tons of rice, EnergyProm reports with reference to the Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan.

Compared to the same period of the previous year, the tonnage of deliveries abroad increased by 12.3%. At the same time, the increase in revenue from them was noticeably more modest – only 3.1%, to $11.29 million.

The bulk of exports (about 99%) fell on the CIS countries – 32.37 thousand tons, or 19% more than a year earlier. Income from them amounted to $11.04 million (+11.1%).

Uzbekistan became the largest buyer of Kazakh rice. The volume of deliveries from the neighboring country for four months reached 14.32 thousand tons against 1.05 thousand a year earlier. Revenue increased more than fourteen times to $3.33 million.

Before that, Russia was the main importer, purchasing 14,000 tons of rice in the first four months of 2022. But since the beginning of this year, the volume of supplies amounted to only 8.7 thousand tons – 38% less, while revenue decreased by only 17.6%.

The third place is occupied by Tajikistan, which increased supplies by a third – up to 6.9 thousand tons. The income of the Kazakh side from them increased by more than one and a half times and amounted to $2.27 million.

In parallel with Russia, the export of rice from Kazakhstan to Ukraine has significantly decreased – by 39% or to 1818 tons. Even more noticeable was the drop in supplies to Azerbaijan, which purchased only 243 tons, or more than five times less than last year.

Of the countries outside the CIS, Mongolia remained the leader in rice imports from Kazakhstan, despite a drop in supplies by almost 85% – to 140 tons. However, deliveries to the USA increased by 4.5 times and exceeded 96 tons.