What barriers stand in the way of local oil producers, preventing them from reaching the level of Russia and Ukraine? This question was explored on the pages of the portal inbusiness.kz.
The oil processing industry in Kazakhstan is considered one of the most promising sectors today. This fact often surprises, considering that our country is usually associated with risky agriculture. However, the industry's results speak for themselves: at the moment, Kazakhstan is among the top ten largest global exporters of sunflower oil and is also in the top three in terms of volumes of meal and cake compared to the European Union countries, as reported by the portal inbusiness.kz.
The desire to develop even further was expressed by the participants of the latest international conference on oil and fats production held in Almaty under the title "FOC 2025: Fats and Oils Conference." During the first session of the forum dedicated to the industry's prospects, the chairman of the National Association of Oilseed Processors, Yadikar Ibragimov, emphasized the need for diversity in sown areas, mentioning the pace of development, which, unfortunately, is not as high as desired and hinders potential prospects.
"Now we face the task of taking a place among the top three suppliers. Ukraine, Russia - and Kazakhstan can become the third on this list. We have a significant potential for expanding sown areas. Analyzing the share of sunflowers grown in the northern regions of Kazakhstan, it can be noted that it does not exceed 3%! We estimated that it is possible to increase this figure to more than 4 million hectares," emphasized the Association's leader.
Oil processing enterprises have many tasks ahead of them, but the industry's potential allows to consider them as diverse opportunities. Neighboring Central Asian countries will not pose a serious threat to Kazakhstan in oil production due to the influence of climatic conditions and limited arable lands.
Frankly speaking, in recent years, oil production volumes in Kazakhstan have indeed increased.
"Since 2022, we have observed a stable growth in the sown areas under sunflowers. In the next three years, it is expected that the area of plantings will approach 2 million hectares. However, it is necessary to develop deep processing of products. Our next task is to increase the production of refined oils. In the east of the country, two large projects will be launched this year, which will capture their share of the refined oil market," noted Yadikar Ibragimov.
Referring to World Bank data, he also highlighted that, according to recent studies, the population of Central Asian countries will continue to grow in the coming years. This means that the likelihood of their import dependence, especially on vegetable oils, will increase. Therefore, with the right approach to diversification, Kazakhstan has the opportunity to become a leading supplier of oil processing products to neighboring republics.
China is another attractive direction for product exports. According to the chairman of the industry union, China annually imports about 18 million tons of vegetable oils and meal/cake. However, entering the Chinese market is not easy, as complex procedures requiring coordination between the two states are necessary to be included in the main customs administration registry. The Association notes that relevant agencies, including the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture, have successfully coped with this task.
"Previously, for several years, we could not include our plants in the registry of meal/cake exporters to China. We actively advocated for this. And at one point, more than 20 of our enterprises were included in the list. With access to the Chinese market, we have the opportunity to expand our sales channels," emphasized Yadikar Ibragimov.
The state is actively working on improving logistics mechanisms. Oil processing plants carry out deliveries without intermediaries. At present, the performance of planned indicators exceeds 90%, although until February 2024, there were serious problems with this - task completion barely reached 40%. Details on the reasons for this situation will be discussed in the following materials.
Among the potential markets for oil exports, the speaker also highlighted Iran. Annually, the Islamic Republic purchases about 3.5 million tons of vegetable oils and high-protein feed. Approximately 1.5 million tons of vegetable oil, including 800 thousand tons of sunflower oil, are supplied from Kazakhstan. Afghanistan, in turn, mainly purchases packaged oils from Kazakh producers. However, the launch of new enterprises mentioned earlier will allow increasing Kazakhstan's presence in the Afghan market, according to the Association.
