Saudi Arabia intends to import Kazakhstani grain in case of cost-efficient logistics, Batyr Batyrshayev, Kazakhstan’s Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and concurrently to the Kingdom of Bahrain, said.
Saudi Arabia annually spends about $22 billion on food imports. The kingdom is interested in Kazakhstani grain due to its high quality.
However, high transport costs are still a grave obstacle. The leaders of Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia have assigned a task to find ways for optimizing transport logistics.
The Kazakhstan – Turkmenistan – Iran railway with access to the Iranian Gulf port of Bandar-Abbas is meant to play an important role in this process.
In addition, Saudi Arabia may become an important destination market for meat exports from Kazakhstan. Meat imports are temporarily banned now, but prerequisites exist that this ban will shortly be lifted. (UkrAgroConsult/Business World Magazine)
