Exports of Kazakhstan agricultural and food products to Customs Union countries shipped between January and July increased by 72 percent compared to the same period of last year, Minister of Agriculture Assylzhan Mamytbekov said at a government meeting. “Kazakhstanis seeing a positive trend in turnover in the Customs Union for 2013. In 2010 and 2011, imports of agricultural and food products increased by 14-40 percent, and exports – by 4-7 percent. In 2012, imports grew by only 2.5 percent, while exports grew by 25.8 percent. During the first seven months of 2013, exports grew by 72 percent,” Mamytbekov noted. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the value of the agricultural production and food processing industry in 2012 was about 830 billion tenge (US$5.5 billion). Also, according to the Statistics Agency, 1,370 enterprises operate in the food industry of Kazakhstan. Cereals, dairy products, baked goods, meats, fruits and vegetables, oils and fats are the biggest components of the food production sector.
Karachagank in the West Kazakhstan region is one of the biggest oil and gas deposits in the world. It was discovered in 1979. In 1984, the first gas treatment plant was built there and gas production subsequently began. In 1992, negotiations for an agreement on production sharing between BG-Group, Eni and the Government of Kazakhstan began. Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V. functions in accordance with the final production sharing agreement signed by international consortium partners and the Government of Kazakhstan in November 1997. According to the agreement, KPO will manage the Karachaganak project until 2038. KazMunayGas has been an official part of the Karachaganak joint enterprise since 2012. The deposit occupies 280 square km and has over 1.2 billion tons of oil and condensate and more than 1.35 trillion cubic meters of gas. In 2009, a production record of 139.5 million barrels of crude oil equivalent was set. The fourth round of production was launched in 2011. 2.57 million tons of condensate per year is produced at the field. The project costs 155.4 billion tenge (US$1 billion). One thousand new construction jobs were created as well as 90 exploitation jobs.
Glass Service LLP began producing heat-strengthened, energy saving, tinted and other types of glass for furniture, interior doors, bathroom products, windows and balconies in the West Kazakhstan region in 2012. The enterprise received state support under the Business Road Map – 2020 programme in the form of interest rate financing and the construction of necessary infrastructure. The enterprise produces glass units for construction purposes (including specialized glass i.e. – energy saving, tinted, multifunctional, safe, etc.). It also offers all types of glass processing (drilling, edging, bevelling, etc.), produces and different glass products. It supplies glaze plates and glass insulating products. The plant can produce 684.2 thousand square meters of glass per year. The project cost 809,300,000 tenge ($5.3 million) and created 30 new jobs.
West Kazakhstan’s Zhalayev Bread Products Plant has been a part of the company Grain Industry since 1998 and is an industrialization map project.The plant produces flour and pasta and renders storage services; it dries and conditions grain, mills grain, carries out certified quality grain and grain product testing and ships grain as well as provides other railway and road transportation services. Pasta plant No. 2 was launched in 2012. The plant can produce 2,880 tons per year. The project received state support under the 2020 Business Road Map. The project cost 360 million tenge ($2.3 million) and created 66 new jobs.
