Cancellation of export duty on sunflower in Kazakhstan: support for farmers before the planting season

Since the beginning of February, an initiative arose in Kazakhstan to abolish the duty on sunflower exports. The Grain Union of the Republic of Kazakhstan explains that this is necessary to support farmers before the planting season.

They point to high reserves of seeds on the domestic market. According to the Bureau of National Statistics, reserves stand at 1.074 million tonnes as of 1 January 2024.

The union also explains that many agricultural producers have not carried out the necessary drying of sunflowers, and the high moisture content of oil seeds during storage leads to a loss of quality and a reduction in demand.

Local processors also have high reserves of not only sunflower seeds, but also crude oil. Since December, the pace of exports of finished products to China has slowed significantly due to logistics problems.

The abolition of the export duty will allow farmers to sell seeds at a fair price, which in Uzbekistan and China is higher than on the domestic market. The difference between the domestic and export prices is about 60 thousand tenge (12 thousand rubles) per ton.

According to the Grain Union, agricultural enterprises will be able to receive additional income in the amount of 13.6 billion tenge (2.7 billion rubles).