BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 23. The trade turnover of Kazakhstan grew in the first half of 2022, Minister of National Economy Alibek Kuantyrov said at the governmental meeting, Trend reports.
According to Kuantyrov, this figure amounted to $63.7 billion, up by 39.4 percent in annual terms.
The minister also noted that the total value of export from January through June increased by 56.3 percent and equaled $42.2 billion. At the same time, exports of processed goods increased by 33.5 percent to $12 billion.
In the reporting period, imports of goods amounted to $21.5 billion (an increase of 14.8 percent). In general, the positive trade balance amounted to $20.8 billion, he further said.
Besides, according to him, the processing industry maintained positive growth rates. From January through July this year, the volume of production increased by 4.9 percent.
"Positive growth was recorded in 17 regions. The largest increase accounted for the East Kazakhstan and Kostanay regions, the Abay region, as well as the cities of Almaty and Shymkent. In these regions, an increase in the production of food, oil products, building materials, medicines, non-ferrous metals, tractors, trucks and cars," the minister said.
According to him, production volume in the first seven months of this year decreased in the Zhetysu region (by 7.5 percent), as well as in Pavlodar (by three percent) and Turkestan (by 0.2 percent) regions, mainly due to a reduction in the production of flour, soft drinks, ready-mixed concrete, uranium, steel structures, batteries, gasoline, diesel fuel, ferrochromium, and raw aluminum.
As for the processing industries, production growth by 7.7 percent was ensured in mechanical engineering, including the automotive industry - by 19.6 percent, the production of computers, electronic and optical equipment - by 13.8 percent, food - by 2.8 percent, drinks - by 9.1 percent, plastic products - by 5.3 percent, finished metal products - by three percent, chemical industry products - by 10.6 percent, and clothes - by 5.5 percent.
In the mining industry, the production volume grew by one percent (from January through June – by 1.9 percent). In terms of industries, production increased in the provision of services in the mining industry by 18.7 percent, gas production - by 2.2 percent, coal - by 1.3 percent, metal ores - by 0.9 percent, and crude oil - by 0.3 percent. In the extraction of other minerals, a decrease of 6.6 percent was recorded, added Kuantyrov.