ASTANA, Kazakhstan, September 22. Unrefined oil production exceeded 417,000 tons per season (from September 2022 through August 2023), which is 50 percent more than for the 2021–2022 season (279,000 tons), Trend reports.
This was stated at the Interdepartmental Commission on Foreign Trade Policy and Participation in International Economic Organizations, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin.
Production of refined oil during the same period increased by 4.1 percent, to 145,300 tons. Imports of bottled sunflower oil decreased: from September 2022 through July 2023, imports amounted to 35,200 tons, a decrease of 15 percent. Thus, production growth occurs against the backdrop of a reduction in imports, that is, import substitution occurs.
The price of oil in stores is decreasing. The export duty was introduced on February 4, 2023; from January through September, the average price for sunflower oil across the republic decreased by 16 percent. As of September 12 of this year, the average price was 764 tenge (about $3.7).
More than 50 enterprises are involved in the processing of sunflower seeds in the country; the annual total processing capacity for raw materials is 3.2 million tons. In 2022, the utilization of existing sunflower processing capacities (2.8 million tons) amounted to 34 percent. In 2022, the gross harvest of sunflower seeds amounted to 1.3 million tons.
The volume of sown areas is growing: from 960,400 hectares in 2021 to 1 million hectares in 2022 (14 percent) and 1.2 million hectares in 2023 (6 percent). On average, the increase is 10 percent annually.
The export of sunflower seeds is growing: in 2022, 346,800 tons of sunflower seeds were exported, which is 2.3 times more than the level of the same period in 2021 (145,900 tons).