Will Uzbekistan stop buying Kazakh meat?

At the beginning of October 2023, the number of cattle of all categories in Uzbekistan reached 13.9 million, World of NAN reports citing kun.uz.

So far, the growth rate of cattle is slow, with the number of bovine cattle increasing by 2% over the year.

Analysis by category of farms shows that 91.3% of the total number of cattle falls on dekhkan and homestead farms, 7% - farms, 1.7% - organizations engaged in agricultural activities.

To recall, Uzbekistan is the main importer of Kazakh meat and livestock. At the same time, Kazakhstan has 8.9 million heads of cattle. But the population of Uzbekistan is twice as large, and accordingly consumption is much higher.

Uzbekistan is developing the livestock industry as much as it can. Thus, 64 cattle-breeding complexes will be built by clusters. It is also planned to attract funds from the World Bank. By increasing its own production, the country wants to reduce dependence on imports.

But it will be difficult for Uzbekistan to develop the livestock industry quickly. There are many problems with the lack of land, working capital and fodder. It should also be taken into account that 90% of livestock belongs to private subsidiary farms, where slaughter weight and quality are low. In the coming years, the country will continue to purchase meat products and livestock from Kazakhstan.

However, Uzbekistan's policy is clearly aimed at the development of the livestock sector, so in a few years, imports from the neighboring country may significantly decrease.