ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s gross agricultural output increased more than 3 percent to 887.5 billion tenge (US$2.7 billion) in the first six months of the year, according to a report by Vice Minister of Agriculture Gulmira Issayeva at a recent Central Communications Service briefing.
“During the first half of the year, the gross agricultural output increased by 3.1 percent to 887.5 billion tenge,” she said. “Production of livestock increased by 3.1 percent; plant production, by 2.2 percent.”
During the same period, agricultural investment increased 56 percent, while the gross output in the agricultural processing industry increased 7.5 percent, she added.
As of July 20, exports of grain crops and flour reached 4.056 million tonnes, according to state revenue committee operative data and Kazakhstan Temir Zholy. Wheat and flour remain the country’s export leaders; export of wheat was 2.143 million tonnes. In comparison, only 4.5 million tonnes of wheat were exported last year.
Authorities are working to reduce imports of basic food products for domestic consumption, said Issayeva, and imports of 11 major food products decreased this year compared to Jan.-May 2016.The list is comprised of 29 items, including mutton (65 percent), onions (46 percent), cabbage (22 percent), cereals (20 percent), dairy products (18 percent), butter (17 percent), wheat flour (14 percent), processed milk (13 percent), vegetable oil, cheese and cottage cheese (10 percent) and beet roots (5 percent). The figures represent 38 percent of consumed food products.
Decreases were also seen in the same category in import share. Butter reduced by 5.7 percent, fish (5.6 percent), vegetable oil (3.4 percent), poultry meat (2.7 percent), cereals (2.4 percent), dairy products (2.3 percent),cheeses and cottage cheese (0.7 percent) and processed milk (0.1 percent).
