Meat & poultry in Kazakhstan: import changes but gaps remain

Kazakhstan is a land of meat eaters. Across the centuries, various meats have become staples of Kazakh cuisine. Many traditional favourites involve beef or mutton, while contact with both east and west has diffused a great deal of tastes into Kazakhstani cooking.

But as a member of the Eurasian European Community, alongside Russia and other regional partners, Kazakhstan is facing a drastic slash in the level of meat it imports.
 
Do not be put off by this news. Importantly, there are still gaps in the market for producers to exploit, as we’ll touch on later on.

Meat consumption high in Kazakhstan

Average consumption of meat has collectively grown at a rate of 7.7% since 2009 across Kazakhstan. Poultry is amongst the fastest growing sectors in the nation, showing a CAGR of 13.5% over recent years. Consumption of chicken meat now peaks at around 20kg per person.

Across the board, Kazakhs consume between 50-60kg of meat per capita a year on average. This only goes to show the prevalence of meat in Kazakh cooking, which takes in any number of traditional meat dishes.

Beef dominates. As much as 80% of all meat consumed throughout Central Asia’s largest economy is beef. Kazakhstan is a top ten nation when it comes to beef consumption, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, with nearly 30kg consumed annually.

Pork doesn’t feature too heavily in Kazakh dishes, so consumption is comparatively low; only a handful of kilograms eaten per year per person. This is being reflected across the domestic pork industry, which is has actually shrunk around 6.4% in 2016 – thanks to the twin issues of low small consumption and shrinking pig herds.

Even so, domestic production has failed to cover domestic demand for meat products of all varieties.

2014 is a good indicator of where Kazakhstan falls flat in meeting its population’s desire for meat. During that year, total domestic output amounted to 899 thousand tons. Total consumption came to 1.08 million tons, leaving a deficit of 182.2 thousand tons. Imports from the US and Russia covered the cracks – but imports have dropped off.

The structure of Kazakhstan’s meat imports changes – but supply gaps remains

In 2016, the EEU set down measures that limited the volume of imports from non-member states by as much as two thirds. These are competitive measures, similar to how the EU favours trade between its constituent countries, designed to protect internal industries.

Kazakhstan has set the following import quotas:

• 21,000 tons of beef
• 140,000 tons of poultry
• Zero quota for pork

Across the five nation-strong EEU, the import share of outside sates is slightly more than 750 thousand tons – although third-party countries will likely see much of their supplies swallowed up by Russia.

But remember: domestic production cannot keep up with internal demand, which means there are still supply gaps to be filled. This is true for both EEU countries and those that fall outside of the economic union.

According to that MIT’s Atlas of Economic Complexity, Kazakhstan imported animal food products worth $526 million in 2015. Poultry meat made up a large chunk of this, representing imports worth $137 million.

The Eurasian Economic Union’s quotas might be related to Russia’s active meat industry. Over in the EEU’s largest partner producers have bumped up output and are looking for export markets. Kazakhstan is very much one of these.

Meet Kazakhstan’s key meat buyers at WorldFood Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan’s important food figures, including importers, retail buyers, distributors, and more, come together each year at WorldFood Kazakhstan – the nation’s biggest exhibition dedicated to food and drink.

If you want to get your products in front of a dedicated audience of industry decision makers then you should be at 2017’s event. This year, the show is expected to attract over 5,000 specialist visitors from across Kazakhstan’s food industry – all actively looking for new business partners and produce.

WorldFood Kazakhstan 2017 takes place at the Atakent International Exhibition Centre in Almaty between 1-3 November. If you would like to find out the ways you can take part, or you would like to secure your space, please contact our team today.

 

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