On January 22, a three-month ban on the export of potatoes and carrots began to operate in Kazakhstan. But the farmers were able to convince the interdepartmental commission to still open exports within the established quota. This was reported Kairat Bisetaev, head Union of potato and vegetable growers of Kazakhstan.
“Still, after the intervention of the Minister of Trade, I managed to personally participate in the meeting of the Interregional Commission. A decision has just been made to replace the ban on potato exports with quotas for 144 tons of marketable potatoes in the period from February to April. They also allocated a quota for 57 tons of potato seeds for the same period,” said Kairat Bisetaev.
He also said that restrictions on the export of carrots were completely lifted by the decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Earlier, the government decided to limit the export of potatoes and carrots, fearing a shortage and rising prices in the spring. To convince the MVK of the excessiveness of such a measure, the Union of Potato and Vegetable Growers conducted a large-scale study, recalculating the stocks of potatoes in the country. It was established that organized agricultural enterprises produced a little more than 1 million tons, and together with production in private household plots in the Republic of Kazakhstan, a crop of 2 million tons was obtained.
After refraction and laying seeds for the next year (83 tons), agricultural enterprises of the country had a volume of marketable potatoes of 660 tons. At the same time, the needs of the urban population of Kazakhstan are estimated by researchers at 844 tons. Taking into account imports (389 thousand tons per year), it is enough for the country's agricultural producers to supply 614 tons of potatoes to the domestic market. This means that the export potential for the current season (until July 810) is 70 tons.