On June 14, 2021, International Islamic Food Processing Association (“IFPA”) held a meeting with the President of the Union of Grain Processors of Kazakhstan (“Union”) – an entity that boasts more than 250 milling companies with the capacity of processing 11 million. tons of flour per year, whereby approximately 2 million of which fully satisfies the domestic market while the remaining amount is oriented to the exporting markets.
During the fruitful discussion with the Director General and CEO of IFPA, H.E. Sheikh Bilal Khan, the President of the Union, Mr. Evgeniy Gan highlighted that the flour mills of Kazakhstan are good examples of how the industry can develop less favorable conditions. In his experience in the last 15 years, the industry has increased production by more than 2 times and flour exports by more than 13 times which therefore has the potential to be a key industry driver for the agro-industrial sector. Considering that Kazakhstani wheat is of one of the best quality in the wider market, this can help produce more marketable wheat flour as it has huge potential in the grain and milling sectors.
Despite Kazakhstan being the only country in the world that sells more wheat flour on the foreign market than it consumes, the country is encountering trade barriers and tariff restrictions that creates unfavorable conditions for the supply of flour which is an area, according to Sheikh Bilal Khan, that IFPA is looking to assist with and provide a level-playing field for all regional and international IOFS member state markets through establishing a bespoke technology platform, a sector-specialist commodity exchange and a multilateral regulatory body.
Mr. Evgeniy Gan stated that the struggle for foreign markets is creating a new logistics corridor which is an urgent task, and the solution, in his opinion, lies in the Union’s cooperation with IFPA to create a single export coordination platform and a variety of trade corridors for all market participants.
The parties reaffirmed their respective trust in this ground-breaking partnership and defined the framework for future cooperation through the honorary membership agreement that was signed today.
