ASTANA – Kazakhstan exported 16.1 million tons of agricultural products worth $5.1 billion in 2024, a 3.9 % increase from the previous year, the Prime Minister’s press service reported on March 19.
Photo credit: Zhaiyk Press
This was announced at a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin.
According to Vice Minister of Agriculture Yerbol Taszhurekov, agricultural exports have grown by 51 % over the past five years, reaching 66 countries. Processed products account for 52 % of exports, with key markets including Central Asia, the Eurasian Economic Union(EAEU), Iran, Türkiye, China and the EU.
Grain exports totaled 8.1 million tons in 2024. From September 2024 to March 18, 2025, Kazakhstan shipped 6.3 million tons of harvest grain. Exports to Iran surged 17-fold to 741,000 tons, while shipments to Azerbaijan reached 408,000 tons, the highest in the last five years.
Processed agricultural exports rose 14.9 % to $2.7 billion, including vegetable oil, flour-based confectionery, sausages, beef and lamb. Zhumangarin emphasized the need to support sunflower seed producers as production expands.
Kazakhstan has signed plant quarantine and protection agreements with Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Iran, China and CIS countries. More than 2,400 Kazakh enterprises are registered to export safflower meal, peas, lentils and rapeseed to China.
In 2025, China is expected to approve imports of beet pulp, followed by rice, mung beans, cotton and melon crops in 2026. A new agricultural inspection laboratory in East Kazakhstan, built by China and accredited to international standards, is set to launch in the first half of 2025 to facilitate exports.
Zhumangarin instructed officials to accelerate negotiations with China to remove trade restrictions and explore new export opportunities.
As a result of bilateral cooperation with Rosselkhoznadzor and other countries, restrictions on foot-and-mouth disease and avian flu have been lifted in several regions, allowing meat exports to resume to Armenia, China, Russia and Belarus.
Kazakhstan is also exploring export markets for horse meat and poultry.
“Our country already fully meets domestic demand for horse meat, and large poultry farms will soon cover our poultry needs. We need to start identifying export markets for these products now,” Zhumangarin said.
Kazakhstan is increasing the number of enterprises included in foreign exporter registries to expand exports further, with 324 now registered for export to third countries and more than 3,100 in EAEU registries.
