More Kazakh agricultural exporters complain of issues with transit to Russia

ALMATY : Some Kazakh rice and corn exporters are unable to ship their products to Russia, Kazakhstan’s Grain Union said on Wednesday, in what appeared to be an expansion of a Russian block on grain transit from Kazakhstan after Moscow accused Astana of breaching plant health regulations.
Russia is a key transit country for major Kazakh exports such as oil and uranium, and trade tensions could make market players nervous about the steady supply of those commodities.
The Russian state agricultural watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, said last week it would block the issuance of phytosanitary certificates for grain, grain products, sunflower seeds, tomatoes, and peppers from Kazakhstan.
The Kazakh government said it requested proof of the purported violations from Russia, and the Kazakh state railroad company said grain exports via Russia would continue and even increase this month.
But market players say Russia’s decision has affected shipments.
“The situation has not been resolved, as far as I understand,” Yevgeny Karabanov, the head of analytics at the grain union said.
“(Grain) transit continues via routes where cargoes do not need to be unloaded from one means of transportation and loaded onto another one. For example, to the Baltic countries, Azerbaijan, Belarus.”
But Kazakh grain cargoes are no longer shipped via Russian ports, Karabanov said.
“In addition, there are complaints from companies that supply rice and corn – which were not mentioned in the Rosselkhoznadzor letter – from Kazakhstan to Russia,” he said.
“Trucks loaded with those products are being turned away at the border.”
A Russian industry source, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly, confirmed that there were issues with Kazakh transit and shared a document listing products that were banned for import if they had Kazakh phytosanitary certificates.
The list includes not only all major grains, but also wheat flour, corn, rice, soybeans, lentils, some nuts and melons.
Kazakhstan’s agriculture ministry said in a statement that since Russian restrictions took effect on Sept. 23, Kazakhstan has shipped 204,000 metric tons of such produce to Russia, and only 0.3 per cent of that has been turned away at the border.
It also said the two countries’ agricultural safety watchdogs held talks on the matter on Wednesday and would continue them.
Rosselkhoznadzor in Russia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.