ASTANA (TCA) — Kazakhstan’s railways in 2017 transported 8.9 million tons of grain, including 5.8 million tons for export, and 3.2 million tons of flour, including 2.4 million tons for export, according to Oralkhan Kulakov, the head of JSC KTZ-Freight Transportation, a subdivision of Kazakhstan’s national railways company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ).
Kulakov said at a news conference that last year, the traditional geography of sales markets of Kazakh grain and flour has been preserved. These are Uzbekistan (two million tons), Tajikistan (one million tons), Afghanistan (2.1 million tons), and Iran (two million tons).
Rail transportation of grain increased: to Uzbekistan by 7 percent, to Iran by 26 percent, and to Afghanistan by 6 percent.
To increase freight turnover and realize the export potential of the country, the Kazakh Ministry of Agriculture made a proposal to build a Class-A terminal in the territory of Afghanistan, which will allow the transportation of Kazakh flour evenly throughout the year, especially in summer.
Last year, more than eight thousand tons of grain in containers was transported by the Kazakh railway company. The deliveries were made to Vietnam via the port of Lianyungang in China. Shipments of containers with grain were made to Mersin (Turkey), through the new Kars – Akhalkalaki railway line, and to China (Xinjiang).
In 2018, JSC NC KTZ plans to ship 5 thousand containers with grain.
The company plans to attract an additional 2,000 railcars, which will increase the grain storage fleet up to 11,000 cars.
