Kazakhstan Harvested Almost 40% of Grain-Planted Area

Kazakhstan, the biggest wheat producer in Central Asia, harvested almost 40 percent of the area planted with grains, or 6.1 million hectares (15.1 million acres) since reaping began last month, according to the Agriculture Ministry.

Average yields were 740 kilograms (1,631 pounds) per hectare, the ministry said today in a statement on its website. The country had milled 4.5 million metric tons of grain as of today.

Kazakhstan may gather about 13 million tons of grains this season, Yevgeniy Aman, the Agriculture Ministry’s executive secretary, said Aug. 15. The country may lose 353,000 hectares of planted grains, or 2 percent of the total, due to drought, Agriculture Minister Asylzhan Mamytbekov said July 24.

Kazakhstan harvested a record 26.9 million tons of grain in 2011, according to government data.

To contact the reporter on this story: Svetlana Antoncheva in Astana, Kazakhstan at santoncheva1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Hellmuth Tromm at htromm@bloomberg.net