Kazakhstan intends to increase exports of fat and oil products

FOC 2022 international fat and oil conference was held in Almaty during which the most urgent topics of oil business were discussed. The most interesting and significant topic was the increasing export trend of fat and oil products, reports World of NAN.

According to national statistics from September to April 2021/22 export of unrefined and refined sunflower oil from Kazakhstan increased by 32.3% compared to the previous season and amounted to 96 thousand tons. The most fruitful month for export was April, where the increase in sunflower oil supplies doubled compared to April last year and reached 20 thousand tons.

In the top three main importers of Kazakh sunflower oil are Uzbekistan - 39 thousand tons, China - 27 thousand tons, which is 2.2 times more than the index of the previous season, the third is completed by Tajikistan, which in turn increased imports of Kazakh sunflower oil by 40% - up to 19 thousand tons.

The demand for Kazakhstan oil and fat products is increasing every year, it is worth to look at how the area sown with oil-bearing crops in Kazakhstan is increasing. Since 2016, the oilseed area has risen from 2m ha to 3m ha in 2022. The gross yield for this period rose from 1.9 million tons to 2.43 million tons in 2021, in 2022 could reach 2.88 million tons. The main share in the structure of sown areas are flax and sunflower - 75% of the total area. In this case, the yield of oilseeds in Kazakhstan concedes to the indicators of Russia and Ukraine, where it is 17-23 c/ha, whereas in our country the average rate does not exceed 9.3-9.5 c/ha.

Against the background of increase of oilseeds production, we should also note the increase of sunflower oil production which grew by 45% and sunflower meal production which grew by 35%.

During his speech at the event, Yadikar Ibragimov, Chairman of the National Association of Oilseeds Processors, made a comment about increased exports: "Increased exports of processed products entails many positive aspects, the main one is the stabilization of prices of finished products in the domestic market. This has been achieved due to increased workload of the oil plants. Export revenues have also had an impact, since the factories, selling their finished products abroad at quite a high price, can maintain prices at the local market.

Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, represented by Gulnara Bizhigitova, head of the department for processing of crop products, also expressed their opinion: "Kazakhstan now has an opportunity to increase export supplies of vegetable oils, thereby expand the geography of markets. Under the national development project it is planned to increase vegetable oil exports by an average of two times, up to 360 thousand tons by 2025, and the required planted area should be about 3.5-3.6 million hectares".