ASTANA: Kazakhstan’s foreign trade turnover in 2016 is expected to amount to US $58 billion, Sputnik news agency reported with reference to Meirzhan Maikenov, deputy chairman of the national investment and export promotion agency KAZNEX INVEST. “As a result of 2016, Kazakhstan’s foreign trade would total $58 billion,” Maikenov told a news conference on December 28, with Kazakhstan’s export amounting to $35 billion and import amounting to $23 billion. “There is a positive balance: we are exporting more than importing,” the official said. He also emphasized that processed products have accounted for 35 percent of the total exports, which, in his opinion, testifies to improving the country’s export basket.
Last year, Kazakhstan’s foreign trade amounted to $60.7 billion, with the export at $41.2 billion and import at $19.5 billion. Kazakhstan exported its products to 117 countries. In Maikeyev’s words, Kazakhstan exports raw materials mainly to non-CIS countries and processed products are exported to CIS countries, the Caucasus, China, and Iran. Crude oil and metals remain the main export items of Kazakhstan, and the country’s export revenues have declined due to lower oil and commodity prices. The government of Kazakhstan has been pursuing a policy of increased domestic production and import substitution, including for food products. Deputy Agriculture Minister Gulmira Isayeva said earlier this year that domestic producers now meet 95 percent of the Kazakh population’s needs for basic food products.
