ALMATY (TCA) — The first batch of two thousand tons of Kazakh sunflower and rapeseed oil will be sent for export to China, the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan reported.
Erbol Eseneev, head of the secretariat of Atameken’s Committee of Food Industry, said that until recently, the export of Kazakhstani cooking oil was carried out in the form of raw material. Chinese companies bought Kazakh rapeseeds, sunflower seeds, and soybeans for processing in China, thus producing two products — cooking oil as well as oilseed coarse meal and seed cake (by-products of oilseed processing).
In Eseneev’s words, it is much more profitable to export finished cooking oil than oilseeds. “If we talk about profitability, oilseeds were previously exported to China at an average price of 100-120 tenge per kilogram while cooking oil will be exported at a price of 300-315 tenge per kilogram. We get two benefits: our domestic processing plants will receive added value from processing, and they will have additional revenue from oilseed coarse meal and seed cake,” he said.
“The Chinese are interested in importing our cooking oil because their oil consumption is growing and Kazakh product is distinguished by its taste, naturalness and environmental friendliness,” Eseneev said.
He also said that a Chinese company is interested in organization of its own production in Kazakhstan. This year they plan to start construction of a rapeseed oil plant in North Kazakhstan region with further delivery of finished products to China. The plant will produce 36 thousand tons of cooking oil and 25 thousand tons of seed cake per year.
“Given that Kazakh cooking oil is environmentally friendly and natural, the Chinese partners can sell it 10-15 percent more expensively as a premium-class product,” Eseneev added.
