The Ag Ministry of Kazakhstan forecasts the country’s total seeded area to remain as large as last year, at 21.8 Ml ha. The seeded area of grains is projected at 14.7 Ml ha, including 11.4 Ml ha of wheat (down 544 Th ha from 2017). Simultaneously, the planted acreage of feed crops will expand to the same extent: fodder grains will occupy over 2.5 Ml ha (up 49 Th ha on the year). Oilseed plantings will total some 2.6 Ml ha. Noteworthy, as of May 29, 10159 Th ha (71.9% of the plan) had already been seeded to spring cereals that is less 16% year-on-year. 136.7 Th ha of corn for grain (88.3%) had been sown, 8% more than in 2017. 96.9 Th ha of rice (101.1%) also had been sown, compare to 95.8 Th ha (107%) in 2017. Kazakh farmers continue planting oilseeds. According to the Agriculture Ministry of Kazakhstan, 2281.1 Th ha had been seeded by May 29, 2018 (84.1% of the forecast area of 2711 Th ha). The seeding pace is 12.5% the progress of last year. So, 2027.8 Th ha was seeded by the same date in 2017. As a reminder, Kazakhstan is going the way of diversifying planted areas in favor of oil crops. So, Kazakh growers intend to expand their seeded area by 9.4% this year, to 2711 Th ha against last year’s 2478.9 Th ha (adjusted seeded area). Source - http://www.blackseagrain.net