ASTANA, Kazakhstan, July 18. Kazakh Railways (KTZ, a national company) plans to send 1.25 million tons of grain to China in the second half of 2024, said Managing Director of KTZ Bauyrzhan Urynbasarov during a meeting in the government, Trend reports.
"757,000 tons of grain have already been sent by rail; the plan for the second half of the year is 1.25 million tons. Kazakhstan Railways is ready to send more than two million tons of grain for export to China, with an even distribution of trains among senders," he said.
In 2023, the volume of grain shipments by rail from Kazakhstan to China reached a record 2.2 million tons. This became possible thanks to the resumption of grain shipments by grain carriers from March 2023 through the joint efforts of the government, KTZ, and industry associations.
Furthermore, from January through June 2024, the volume of cargo transported by rail in Kazakhstan amounted to 197.6 million tons. This is 2.3 percent less than the level of the same period in 2023.
At the same time, cargo turnover by rail for the above period amounted to 153.7 billion ton-kilometers, which is 5.7 percent less than from January through June 2023.