On December 5-6, Astana hosted the main winter conference of the Asian agricultural and logistics market KAZAKH GRAIN & LOGISTIC FORUM 2024. The event was organized by RDL ჯგუფი და APK-ინფორმაცია Asia.
The conference was attended by about 170 delegates from 20 countries, including key market participants (exporters, importers, agricultural holdings, processors, logistics companies, ports, terminals and others).
The partner of the business program was ნურჟოლკომპანია.
Sponsors of the sessions – ისტკომტრანსი და ტის-სერვისი.
Official information support was provided by: Agri Silk Road, the Union of Transport Workers of Kazakhstan “კაზლოჯისტიქსი“, the Kazakhstan Association of Carriers and Wagon (Container) Operators (KazAPO), Interlegal, the Chamber of Legal Consultants “Justus“, the Association of Chambers of Legal Consultants “Kazakhstan Zan-Kenes“, ALC Legal.
The first day of the conference, December 5, was devoted to issues of grain market development – both global and regional. Key topics concerned new configurations of exports and imports, macroeconomic and geopolitical aspects, forecasts for the development of the grain market.
The following addressed the participants with a welcoming speech:
- რომან დედკოვი, Founder and CEO of the organizing company RDL group.
- Elena Cherednichenko, Director of the organizing company TOO APK-Inform Asia.
Then we moved on to Session 1, moderated by Zeinolla Abdumanapov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of “NAE ‘KazGrain’.
Session 1 was opened by Monika Tothova, Senior Economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with the topic “Global grain market map in the 2024/25 season. New export and import configurations. Macroeconomic and geopolitical aspects”.
ალბერტო გრიზონე, Director Development Russia & CIS Countries at Hupac Intermodal N.V., continued, talking about the European experience of containerization of agricultural cargo.
Next was a speech by Fang Gang, Head of ZHEJIANG GRAIN GROUP Co. @ ZHEJIANG Oils Co. Ltd. He outlined China’s position as the largest grain importer, as well as trade features and price trends in the 2024/25 season.
This topic was continued by Ding Yuling, General Director of Beijing Lianghai Zhichuang Technology Co., Ltd., founder of the website Gugejiujiu. He analyzed the Chinese barley market from 2016 to 2024.
The first results of the 2024/25 grain season, forecasts for the development of the main grain crops market in the second half of the MY, namely trade, prices and factor analysis were presented in his speech by Viktor Aslanov, Chairman of the Union of Farmers of Kazakhstan, Independent Director of JSC NC Food Corporation.
Nurlan Dautkanov, Kazakh Research Institute of Processing and Food Industry, spoke about the market of processed grain products in Kazakhstan with an emphasis on the prospects for the development of the industry in the current economic and geopolitical realities.
In turn, Zhandos A. Shaikhy, Deputy Chairman of the Board of “Baiterek” National Managing Holding JSC, together with Madiyar SULTANBEK, MSc, MBA, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, JSC “NC “KAZAKH INVEST“, presented investment projects and programs for state financing of the grain processing industry of Kazakhstan.
შემდეგი მომხსენებელი იყო Alexey Klass, Regional sales manager, who presented the company HAVER & BOECKER OHG.
The first session was concluded with the discussion “Portrait of Kazakhstan’s grain industry, development dynamics and painful shocks”, during which key market participants and representatives of government agencies spoke about the “sore spots” and their vision of solving the industry’s problems. Among other things, they discussed what to do with the record grain harvest, what steps the government and farmers should take, etc. Active participants in the discussion were Yerbol Yeseneyev, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Atameken-Agro JSC, Zeinolla Abdumanapov, Chairman of the Association of Grain Producers KazGrain, Viktor Aslanov, Chairman of the Union of Field Growers, Asel Yelemesova, Inspection Director of CCIC Central A, Union of Grain Processors of Kazakhstan, Mukan Abdiyev, and others.
The first day ended with a special session entitled “Legal Aspects of Foreign Trade Activities: Practical Recommendations and Challenges in International Trade”. The speakers were Anton Markov, Partner of the Law Firm “Ponomarev, Chichkov and Partners”, Farit Aitbagin, Lawyer of the international law firm ALC Attorneys, Executive Secretary of Iustus Chamber of Legal Advisors and Lidiya Martynova, Senior Associate at ALC Attorneys LLP, Head of the Disciplinary Commission at the Chamber of Iustus Chamber of Legal Advisors.
December 6 was entirely devoted to logistics topics. Session 1 was devoted to domestic cargo flows, transit potential and infrastructure development in Kazakhstan. The moderator of Session 1 was კანატ კობესოვი, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of NurZholCompany LLP, Chairman of the Board of the National Association of Exporters “KazGrain”. He also opened the second day of the conference as a speaker with the topic “The role of Kazakhstan as the main transit country in the Central Asian region and its integration into international transport corridors”.
შემდეგ Екатерина Шавалиева, Deputy General Director for Container Transportation at Eastcomtrans LLC, spoke, showing successful cases and innovative concepts using the example of the terminal at Zhetygen station and transport solutions through the TLC for grain cargo.
The next speaker was Gani Yessenbayev, Deputy Director of the branch of JSC “NC “Kazakhstan Temir Zholy” “Integrated Planning Directorate”. He covered the topic of “Kazakhstan Railways: Key Infrastructure for Optimizing Grain Transportation.”
In turn, რამია სარაევა, CEO of Association of Kazakhstan Freight Railroad Carriers, spoke about private investment in infrastructure projects, as well as about building optimal logistics chains.
Session 1 was concluded by Madina A., Business Development Director at SEMURG INVEST, who reviewed the existing opportunities and prospects for implementing new projects in the port infrastructure.
After the coffee break, we moved on to Session 2. Grain logistics: existing challenges and new opportunities. Containerization of grain logistics. The moderator was Rakhmetolla Kudaibergenov, Advisor at the First Multimodal Company.
This Session was opened by Assel Karasheva, Head of Marketing and Planning Department, AstykTrans JSC. She reviewed the tariff policy for domestic and export grain transportation.
Madina Akhmedjanova, Director of Kusto Logistics, spoke about containerized cargo transportation to China.
The Session was continued by Erlan Tulendiev, CEO of Trans Logistic Capital Group LLC. He spoke about new trends in the development of agrologistics in Kazakhstan.
შემდეგი მომხსენებელი იყო Rauan Pirmanov, კომერციული დირექტორი TOO TRANSLOGICOM Транспортно-экспедиторская компания, with the topic “Container, multimodal transportation. Services for cargo owners”.
Next was ვინსენტ ჰასკოეტი, Intermodal and strategic business development, HHLA Project Logistics Kazakhstan, who spoke about the containerization of grain cargo in Silk Road Logistics.
The topic was continued by Javid Guliyev, CEO of AGT CARGO (Azerbaijan), who spoke about the export routes of Kazakhstan grain to world markets in 2024-2025, as well as about the containerization of grain in the Caspian-Black Sea region.
After lunch, we moved on to Session 3. Domestic and international railway transportation: new services and routes.
It was opened by დანიარ დუისემალიევი, Director of TIS-SERVICE, with the topic “ASUP – transportation management system”.
Next, Aizhan Beiseyeva, Transport Corridor Development Advisor, USAID Central Asia Trade Program, spoke. She presented the results of the pilot transportation/CARAVAN project.
Fang Gang, Head of ZHEJIANG GRAIN GROUP Co. @ ZHEJIANG Oils Co. Ltd., continued. His speech concerned the current state of construction of logistics infrastructure for agricultural products in Alashankou and the situation with government support from China.
Rinat Dussenov, CEO of DAR RAIL LTD, discussed the experience of DAR RAIL in domestic and international transportation.
The forum was concluded by Amina Makhambetova, Chief Manager of the Marketing and Tariff Policy Department at Kedentransservice JSC. She presented the current situation with export railway transportation of agricultural products for the Chinese market and development prospects.
Following the results of the negotiations and meetings in B2B format on the sidelines of KAZAKH GRAIN & LOGISTIC FORUM 2024, the National Association of Exporters “ყაზგრეინი” signed a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation with the brokerage company Interpro International Gorinchem B.V. (Netherlands).
KAZAKH GRAIN & LOGISTIC FORUM 2024 became a platform for exchanging opinions, discussing best practices and finding new solutions to improve the efficiency of the grain business and logistics operations in Kazakhstan.
ვიმედოვნებთ, რომ ჩვენი ფორუმი სასარგებლო იყო ყველა მონაწილისთვის, მოუტანა ახალი ნაცნობები, პარტნიორობა და იდეები შემდგომი მდგრადი განვითარებისთვის!
We look forward to our next meetings!
RDL ჯგუფი
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