ASTANA (TCA) — The National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan Atameken and the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan have launched a campaign for the promotion of Kazakh products at the Chinese market, Atameken reports.
At a briefing last Friday, Atameken Deputy Chairman Nurzhan Altaev spoke about the prospects of Kazakhstan’s export of agricultural and food products to the Chinese market.
“The Chinese market for us is not just a market but a way to increase the volume of sales, the opportunity for the development of the agro-industrial sector. Well-established channels of exports to China may become a factor that will ultimately raise our agriculture and processing industry onto a new level. In terms of food import, China holds the third place after the European Union and the United States. Annual food imports to China amount to more than 115 billion US dollars. Last year, for example, China imported 3 million tons of wheat and 11 million tons of barley for $4 billion, 7 million tons of beef for $3 billion, 200 thousand tons of melons for $38 million, and around 7,000 tons of honey worth $75 million,” Altaev said.
The share of Kazakhstani products is very small — only 0.1%. It is extremely small, given the existing potential of grain exports, oilseeds, flour, meat, vegetable oil, confectionery, beverages and other products, he added.
The Chamber together with the Ministry of Agriculture is working hard to promote Kazakh products in the Chinese market, particularly by removing China’s restrictions on certain types of products.
Altaev said that Kazakh producers need to be prepared for thorough inspections of their products’ quality by the Chinese veterinary inspection, and advised small farmers unite into cooperatives for an easier access to the Chinese market.
In order to inform Kazakh producers about the possibilities of exporting agricultural products, the Chamber has opened a section on its official website palata.kz called “Export to China”. Any farmer who wants to promote products to the Chinese market can visit this website and see the whole sequence of actions required for that.
