Page 59 - GEORptApr21

9.1.9 Agriculture sector news
Georgia to partially replace Russia wheat with Kazakh grains
Georgia is set to partially replace Russian wheat with Kazakh grain due to the Russian wheat export tax doubling per tonne from €25 to €50 as of March 1, executive director of the Georgian Flour Producers Association Levan Silagava announced.
Silagava said that Georgia constantly has at least two months of wheat supply and will not face a wheat shortage. Last year Georgia purchased 56,248 tonnes of wheat from Kazakhstan.
Georgia was predicted to harvest 150,000 tonnes of wheat and 80,000 tonnes of barley. The country harvests around 80-100,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of wheat, covering less than 10% of the overall consumption countrywide.
In 2020, 87.3% of the wheat imported to Georgia (or 430,236 tonnes) came from Russia.
9.1.10 Electronics and consumer durables sector news
Georgia Industrial Group to produce Chinese tractors in Kazakhtan
The Georgian Industrial Group has signed an agreement with Kazakh authorities to produce Chinese YTO brand tractors in Kazakhstan, Kazakh Invest reported on March 25.
Under the agreement, the Georgian firm is set to be exempted from import customs duties and VAT. The project will be carried out in cooperation with a Chinese state-owned company. The firm plans to annually produce up to 500 tractors with a capacity of 90-130 horsepower.
“In August 2020, we actively began work on possible cooperation with a potential partner with China — YTO GROUP, which is the main division of the state national corporation SINOMACH. It is a reliable partner, one of the top 15 largest companies in China. I believe that the production of such equipment in Kazakhstan will give an impetus to the development of the agricultural machine-building and agro-industrial complex industries,” said the director of Cheka Kazrost Engineering, Daryn Imanmusayev.
The total investment in the project is expected at $5mn. The first tractors are set to leave the assembly line in May this year.
“Today the level of depreciation of the agricultural machinery fleet in Kazakhstan is about 76%. This is a depressing indicator. For the active development of the agro-industrial complex, we need high-quality agricultural machinery. This will increase productivity, increase the competitiveness of our products,” said the project manager of Kazakh Invest, Ainur Zhumanbaeva.
59 GEORGIA Country Report April 2021 www.intellinews.com