High grain prices and transportation costs do not allow grain processors in Kazakhstan to start shipping abroad. Someone works only for the domestic market, while others move to neighboring Uzbekistan, where the government has created ideal conditions for the development of the industry, Forbes Kazakhstan writes.

“The fact is that today wheat prices are not dictated by millers, not grain traders, but by buyers in our main sales markets - Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan,” said Evgeny Gan, President of Grain Processors and Bakers Union of Kazakhstan. 

Uzbekistan buys a large amount of Kazakh wheat and processes at home. Moreover, flour in the country is cheaper than in Kazakhstan due to a number of factors.

“Several large flour milling companies from the Turkestan region, as well as two from Karaganda, have already built mills on the territory of Uzbekistan and moved their production there,” said Dos-Mukasan Taukebaev, director of the “Mutlu” mill in Karaganda.

According to him, working conditions in Uzbekistan are more profitable.