Miller Magazine Issue: 118 October 2019

69 INTERVIEW MILLER / OCTOBER 2019 Kazakhstan has a large agricultural sector featuring livestock and grain. The country, with its large and fertile lands, has great potential in agriculture. It is a major play- er in the grain and flour market. Kazakhstan is one of the top 10 grain exporters in the world, exporting to over 70 countries. It has been trying to increase its wheat export and find new markets. In that regard, the Kazakh Grain Union organized an international grain conference in Is- tanbul, Turkey, on September 19-20. The industry leaders from Kazakhstan and the world discussed global trends of the grain market at ‘KazakhGrainExport 2019’ confer- ence. Nurlan Ospanov, Chairman of the Kazakh Grain Union, gave an exclusive interview to Miller Magazine at the sideline of the event. We talked on the grain policy of Kazakhstan, dynamics in the grain sector and new export markets for Kazakh grain and also challenges that Kazakh grain exporters face. Here are Mr. Nurlan Ospanov’s answers to our ques- tions: Mr. Ospanov could you please give some informa- tion about Kazakh Grain Union? What is the mission of your Union? Association of legal entities “Kazakh Grain Union” was created on November 2, 1995, in the form of a non-profit organization. The purpose of the Union is to unite enter- prises and organizations of the grain market to coordinate their activities, to represent and protect common interests. The mission of the Union consists in creating favorable conditions for the sustainable development of the grain market of Kazakhstan. Currently, the Union unites 105 leading enterprises of the grain market of Kazakhstan, which are engaged in the production, storage and export of grain, the supply of plant protec- tion products and agricultural machinery, the provision of surveyor and transport and logistics services. You organized a grain export conference in Istanbul between 19-20 September. What was the aim of the conference? What kind of feedback did you receive regarding the conference? Kazakh Grain Union participates in the or- ganization of annual conferences KAZGRAIN and KAZOIL. The main purpose of these events is the promotion of Kazakh grain, le- guminous and oilseed products to world mar- kets. Earlier we held such events in Kazakh- stan but this year we decided to organize a conference in Istanbul. I want to express my gratitude to the Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakh- stan in the Republic of Turkey and the General Manager of the Turkish Grain Board (TMO) for support in conducting and participating in our event. At the conference, we dis- cussed current trends in global and local markets, as well as prospects for trade in Kazakh products. We also wanted to provide an opportunity for Kazakh companies to meet with their existing partners from Tur- key, Italy, Russia and other countries, as well as meet new ones to expand the circle of their potential business part- ners. We managed to do it. During the conference, agree- ments were reached on the supply of durum wheat and lentils from Kazakhstan, as well as interest in transactions with soft wheat, peas, rape and flax. Summing up, I want to thank the participants of the Conference for the high appreciation of our event and the speakers for interesting presentations. I hope that our con- ference will be held in Istanbul in the future. Following the government directive, Kazakhstan has been reducing wheat planted area. Which crops are replacing wheat? What kind of changes have you ex- perienced in the grain industry in recent years? As you know, in Kazakhstan for many years only wheat, barley and sunflower were produced. But in the past few years, the situation has changed markedly. Thus, due to the reduction in wheat sowing, the pro- duction of such crops as flax and rape seeds, barley and lentils has significantly increased. For example, the sown area for flax seeds increased from 556 thousand hectares in 2014 to 1.287 million hectares in 2019, that