What is the level of food security in Kazakhstan?

The analyst of the World of NAN editorial board proposes to look at the food security of Kazakhstan through such a coefficient as "production/consumption".

This coefficient shows how much domestic production covers domestic consumption of a particular product. If the coefficient is significantly higher than "1", it indicates more than sufficient production and export surplus. If the coefficient is near "1", it indicates sufficient domestic production and meager exports/imports. If the coefficient has gone well below "1", it indicates a lack of own food production and import dominance.

As you can see in the table, out of the 38 socially important food and agricultural products, 30 of them have more than enough own production. These are the goods that have a coefficient of "0.9" and higher. And yet for some of them (pork, onions, cabbage, peppers, cabbage, tomatoes) there is a share of net imports of 5-8% of consumption. On the other hand, we have six products that we do not have to worry about yet. These are salt, flour, sunflower oil, wheat, barley and rice, the production of which significantly overlaps consumption. The first three of these have a coefficient greater than "2". Nevertheless, serious production problems could affect the food safety and prices of the majority of the list, which has a coefficient of about "1".

In 2023, the food security situation improved significantly for sunflower oil (+62%), wheat (+17%), barley (+16%) and cabbage (+10%). According to the statistics, the improvement was mainly due to a decrease in consumption rather than an increase in production. But for rye (-40%), salt (-23%), cheese and cottage cheese (-17%), sugar (-13%) and pasta (-10%), a noticeable decline was recorded. For rye, production fell by 70%, for sugar by 22% and for pasta by 6%. On the other hand, for salt and cheese and cottage cheese there is an increase in consumption.

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