In the first six months of 2026, Russia became Kyrgyzstan’s main wheat supplier, overtaking Kazakhstan. According to Kyrgyzstan’s official statistics, Russian wheat exports increased almost fivefold, while supplies from Kazakhstan fell by about half.
Overall, Russia supplied Kyrgyzstan with 220,200 tons of wheat worth $47.1 million from January to June, a 4.8-fold increase year-on-year.
Against the backdrop of a sharp rise in Russian exports, wheat supplies from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan fell sharply.
In the first half of the year, Kyrgyzstan purchased 64,300 tons of wheat from Kazakhstan worth $14.5 million, down 50% from the same period last year.
These figures mean that, in physical terms, Russia supplied Kyrgyzstan with approximately 3.4 times as much wheat as Kazakhstan and, in monetary terms, approximately 3.2 times as much.
Russia has also sharply increased its barley supplies to Kyrgyzstan. From January to June, Kyrgyzstan imported 15,200 tons of Russian barley worth $2.98 million, compared with just 50 tons worth $9,800 a year earlier. Thus, Russian barley supplies increased more than 300-fold in physical terms.
However, Kazakhstan remains Kyrgyzstan’s key barley supplier, exporting 16,800 tons worth $3.3 million. This was more than Russia supplied in both physical and monetary terms.
In August, Evgeny Karabanov, head of the analytical committee of the Kazakhstan Grain Union, said that Russia could send significant volumes of cheap grain to Central Asian countries, which traditionally buy Kazakh wheat and flour. This puts Kazakh farmers at risk of declining demand and a new financial crisis.
Speaking on the «Tenge Talks» podcast on YouTube, Karabanov pointed out that Russia had harvested a large volume of grain and was looking for new markets, as it is currently difficult for the country to export wheat to its traditional buyers.
