Kazakhstan Meets Most Food Needs But Import Gaps Remain

Kazakhstan is among the countries that fully provide for themselves in five of seven main food groups, Orda.kz reports, citing Energyprom.

The finding comes from researchers at the universities of Göttingen and Edinburgh, who published their work in the scientific journal Nature Food. The study covered 186 countries.

Only Guyana was fully self-sufficient in all seven main food groups. China and Vietnam covered six groups, while Kazakhstan was among the countries that covered five. The same category included Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Australia, Spain, Brazil and Argentina.

Among Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan showed the same result, providing for themselves in five food groups. The region’s common strengths were vegetables, dairy products and meat. Fish remained the weakest category: no Central Asian country was fully self-sufficient in it.

Kazakhstan fully covers domestic demand for vegetables, dairy products, meat, legumes, nuts and seeds, and starchy foods. Fruit remains the weakest area, with domestic supply covering less than 20% of demand.

Taken together, Central Asian countries can provide for themselves in six of the seven main food groups. Fish remains the only shared problem category.

At the same time, Kazakhstan remains highly dependent on imports for some products. Domestic production covers only 16% of processed and canned vegetables, 14% of processed fruit and nuts, while animal fats are almost entirely imported.

Kazakhstan’s strongest positions remain grain, dairy and some meat products. Processed foods and several food industry categories still depend heavily on imports.

Original author: Elvira Ivannikova

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