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Minister of Agriculture Aidarbek Saparov reported on the positive dynamics of the food and processing industry at the Government session,
primeminister.kz reports.
Thus, at the end of 2023, the volume of food production increased by 1.8% and amounted to 3.1 trillion tenge. The volume of investment in fixed assets of food production increased by 7.1% and amounted to 151 billion tenge. Exports of agro-industrial products totalled $5.3 billion, with the share of processed products in total exports rising to 43% to $2.2 billion.
In the processing of agricultural products 48 investment projects totalling 119 billion tenge were implemented. In the processing of crop products, 3 main directions can be distinguished - processing of grain and oilseed crops, as well as sugar production. Flour production amounted to 3.2 million tonnes, which exceeds the country's domestic consumption by more than 2 times. At the same time, Kazakhstan occupies one of the leading positions in the world in terms of exports," the Minister said.
Given that there are restrictions on export markets, it is necessary to move to the production of products of deep processing - pasta, flour confectionery, starch products. Particular emphasis is placed on products of deep processing of grain, for which a number of investment projects are being implemented.
This year Turkish company Tiriyaki Agro together with Qatari company Hasad Food started implementation of the project worth $400 million on deep processing of grains in Astana city with capacity of 240 thousand tonnes.
In Kostanai region, the Kazakh company Kostanai Grain Industry started implementation of a project on deep processing of grain worth 50 billion tenge, with a capacity of 330 thousand tonnes of grain.
In Turkestan region, Kazkrahmal is implementing a project to process corn for the production of starch products with an investment of 35 billion tenge and a capacity of 150,000 tonnes. The final products in the form of starch, gluten, glucose-fructose syrup, lysine, bioethanol are planned to be exported to global markets.
In 2024-2026, 13 grain processing projects are planned to be implemented. Along with grain processing, oilseed processing is developing dynamically. There are 80 enterprises involved in vegetable oil production, which will produce 672,000 tonnes of vegetable oil in 2023, which is 4.3% more than in 2022. The supply is 183%," Aidarbek Saparov reported.
By the end of the year, production is forecast to increase to 750,000 tonnes. This will be achieved through expansion of sown areas, provision of working capital for purchase of raw materials and implementation of new investment projects.
For example, this year 3 projects with total capacity of 100 thousand tonnes in North-Kazakhstan and East-Kazakhstan regions were launched. In order to increase the profitability of the projects, the Chinese market has been opened for sales of finished and by-products in the form of oilcake and meal.
Sugar production is carried out at 4 operating sugar factories, which meet the demand of the domestic market of the country by 44%, including at the expense of processing of domestic raw materials - 13%.
The main directions in the processing of livestock products are the processing of milk, meat, hides and wool. In milk processing, there are 180 enterprises with a capacity of 2.7 million tonnes of milk per year, with a total utilisation of about 77%. In 2023, 2.1 million tonnes of milk will be processed, an increase of 13.6% compared to 2022. Dairy products totalling 584.8 billion tenge were produced.
To date, the constraints on the development of milk processing are the insufficiency and low quality of raw materials, which directly affects the cost and competitiveness of domestic products with imports. For import substitution and loading of domestic capacities, a project based on the experience of North Kazakhstan region is being implemented. Implementation of the programme will make it possible to create 115 large dairy farms, provide domestic dairies with quality raw materials and solve the problem of insufficient raw milk," the head of the department stressed.
There are 210 meat-processing enterprises in the republic with a capacity of about 400 thousand tonnes of meat per year. The load of the enterprises today is 54%. Consumption of beef is 540 thousand tonnes, mutton - 151 thousand tonnes. Provision of the domestic market with chilled meat is 117%, sausages 61%, canned meat 26%.
As Aidarbek Saparov noted, the main problems of meat processing enterprises are insufficient working capital. In order to increase the number of livestock and provide meat processing enterprises with affordable raw materials, from 2021 there are restrictions on the export of live cattle and cattle with the establishment of quotas.
One of the underdeveloped areas is the processing of hides and wool. In the hides processing sector there are 9 enterprises with a total capacity of 3.3 million pieces of cattle hides, where the workload does not exceed 6%. In 2023, the production of cattle hides totalled 3.5 million pieces, of which only 6% were used for processing and 10% were exported. Wool processing is represented by 13 enterprises. Their capacity is 36.1 thousand tonnes of wool per year, their workload is 26%. Of the 41.7 thousand tonnes of sheep wool produced in 2023, about 7.3 thousand tonnes of wool was processed, 7.9 thousand tonnes or 19% was exported.
The problems in the processing of hides and wool are similar - low quality of raw materials. The solution to the problem is the development of production facilities where the quality of hides does not matter.
In general, state support measures in the form of preferential loans, investment subsidies, processing subsidies, tax and customs privileges and preferences contribute to the growth of production volumes of processing enterprises.
To fulfil the instruction of the Head of State to bring the share of processing up to 70%, the Ministry has developed a comprehensive plan for the development of processing of agricultural products for 2024-2028. The document provides for the provision of processing enterprises with affordable raw materials, granting preferential loans to replenish fixed and working capital, increasing the export potential of processed products by opening new markets. 58 projects totalling 176.2 billion tenge are planned to be implemented.
Implementation of the Comprehensive Plan will give a good impetus to the development of food and processing industry, will increase gross production of processed products by 1.4 times and bring the share of processing of agricultural products to the planned 70%" the Minister summarised.