ASTANA – Kazakhstan increased its export supplies to nearly $84.4 billion in 2022, turning the global geopolitical crisis into an advantage, according to a March 27 review published on ranking.kz analytical website.
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Last year, Kazakhstan had a record-high foreign trade turnover of $134.4 billion. Exports, in monetary terms, increased by 40 percent for the first time since 2012.
Non-oil exports surpassed the country’s all-time high in 2012 and hit another record of $26.5 billion (31.4 percent), with supplies of high-value products comprising $8 billion.
Kazakhstan’s leading trading partners in 2022 were China and Russia, with commodity turnover reaching $24.1 billion (an increase of 34.1 percent) and $26.1 billion (an increase of 6.1 percent), respectively. China and Russia account for more than 37 percent of the country’s foreign trade.
Other top five trading partners also include Italy, Türkiye, and South Korea.
According to experts from the QazTrade organization, which implements the country’s trade policy, changes in global trade caused by the geopolitical situation have positively impacted Kazakhstan’s exports.
The sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus forced key European suppliers to look for new markets. Kazakhstan has increased export earnings from coal sales by 89.3 percent to the countries affected by the energy crisis, including Cyprus, Poland, Latvia, and Türkiye.
Rising vegetable oil production in Kazakhstan also found a niche. Last year, China nearly quadrupled its imports of fats and oils from the country, while Uzbekistan nearly doubled its imports.
Kazakhstan also doubled the volume of alumina supplies to Russia from 378,000 to 745,400 tonnes.
Supply-chain issues between Europe and Russia also worked in favor of Kazakh fish suppliers, who increased their filet exports, particularly zander, to Germany by 62.9 percent, to Lithuania by 56.5 percent, and to the Netherlands by 48.7 percent.
