In recent years, Kazakhstan has seen a steady growth in China’s demand for its organic and environmentally friendly agricultural produce.
As reported at a meeting on March 4th between Kazakhstan’s Minister of Agriculture, Aidarbek Saparov and Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan Zhang Xiao, in 2023, exports almost doubled to $1.01 billion.
The Kazakh Ministry of Agriculture relayed the ambassador’s assurance that the importation of meat, grain, and other agricultural products from Kazakhstan is set to continue.
The minister stated that Kazakhstan has the potential to increase its export of grain to China to two million tons per annum and asked the ambassador for assistance in accelerating the signing of bilateral agreements on the export of a wider range of agricultural products including chilled meat, poultry, offal, beet pulp, and potatoes.
Saparov also requested assistance in accrediting new Kazakh enterprises to export livestock produce to China.
In early February China lifted restrictions, imposed since 2005, on the import of poultry Kazakhstan. A ban on the import of meat, resulting from concerns over foot-and-mouth disease and in place since 2022, was similarly overturned.
The lifting of the restrictions allows exports of frozen beef and pork from the south-eastern regions of Kazakhstan to resume.
