Kazakh Harvest Almost Done

17/10/11 -- The Kazakhstan grain harvest is 98% complete say the Ministry there, producing 27.6 MMT in bunker weight and with yields up almost 100%. That suggests that the recent Ministry estimate for a clean weight crop of a post-Soviet record 25 MMT is pretty much spot on. (And explains why these guys were looking rather pleased with themselves when I met them in Kiev back in the summer).

With 85% of the planted area this year given over to wheat that suggests a wheat crop of around 21.25 MMT this season, 2.25 MMT more than the USDA's latest prediction.

A report on Reuters today says that the country's state-owned grain trading company pegs export potential at 13 MMT this season. If 85% of those exports were wheat then that would equate to a tad over 11 MMT, 2.5 MMT more than the USDA project.