Kazakhstan is one of the world's major wheat and flour exporters. It is among the 10 largest wheat producers. The main grain crop is milling wheat, which is typically high in quality and protein. There is a growing trend for Kazakhstan to export its grain internationally. In 2011, the country netted a record crop – nearly 27m tons, which enabled it to set its grain export target at nearly 15m tons for the 2011/2012 marketing year. In July 2015, Minister of the National Economy Yerbolat Dossayev announced that Kazakhstan would increase export of grain and flour to Kyrgyzstan by 50–60% by 2020 after Kyrgyzstan's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union. According to the head of the ministry, as of July 2015 trade turnover between the two countries was more than US$1 billion. The country exported 2.734 million tonnes mainly to Central Asia and Afghanistan. Wheat and wheat flour exports totaled 1.934 million tonnes and 700,000 tonnes, respectively.
Long-term production trends In 2013, the Kazakh Ministry of Agriculture released a Master Plan for "The stabilization of the
grain market". This Plan is in support of their Agribusiness – 2020 program and in it the Ministry sets goals and projections for grain production, consumption and exports between 2013 and 2020. A few key trends shown in these projections include: • The Ministry projects sown area for all grains to stay relatively steady over this period, falling only slightly. • There is projected to be a sizeable shift from wheat, with wheat area projected to fall 2 million hectares (14 percent) from 13.5 million hectares in 2012 to 11.5 million hectares in 2020. • Most of that reduced area is expected to be replaced with so called "feed crops" primarily feed grains, which were projected to increase 1.5 million hectares (53 percent) from 2.8 million hectares to 4.3 million hectares in 2020. == Investments ==