ASTANA, Kazakhstan, July 24. In the first five months of the current year, Kazakhstan’s wheat exports to Italy increased by 58 percent year-on-year, reaching 292,600 tons, which is the best result since at least 2015, Trend reports via the country's Service for Analytics and Statistics of Food Markets.
The strong growth in wheat exports to Italy is also evidenced by a significant outperformance compared to the period from January through May levels of the previous decade. The volume is 2.5 times higher than the average for that period.
"Moreover, from September through May, the figure for the current 2024/2025 marketing year, which in Kazakhstan begins in September, reached 355,200 tons, a record for at least the last decade. However, in this case, the year-on-year growth is more modest at +8 percent," the report states.
According to analysts, the weaker growth rate is due to the low export levels during the first four months of the current marketing year - from September to December 2024. Just before that period, reports emerged about difficulties faced by domestic exporters in transiting wheat through Russian territory. These issues arose after Kazakhstan imposed a full ban on the import of similar products.
Initially, the problems were attributed to bureaucratic barriers. But by mid-October, Russia officially introduced restrictions, citing the detection of pests in Kazakh agricultural products. These restrictions, with some easing, remain in effect to this day.
These challenges appear to have prompted Kazakhstan to seek alternative logistics routes. Recently, there has been a growing number of reports about expanding cooperation with Estonia and Latvia, both of which have access to the Baltic Sea.
Italy is a traditional - though not the largest - destination for Kazakh wheat exports. From September through May in the 2024/2025 marketing year, Italy accounted for only 6 percent of Kazakhstan’s total wheat exports, a 2 percentage point drop year-on-year. Only durum wheat, known for its higher quality, is shipped to Italy.
