Kazakhstan’s oilseeds output is expected to continue increasing, according to a report by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Over the last five years, Kazakhstan had undergone a gradual but strategic shift from wheat and other grains towards greater oilseed production, particularly sunflowers in the north and eastern parts of the country, the 25 July report said.
This transition has been driven by economics, weather and government policy, according to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Network (FAS) ‘Oilseed Production in Kazakhstan’ report.
“Favourable yields and decent profit margins have motivated farmers to plant more oilseeds.”
Average sunflower yields had increased steadily, rising from 0.8M tonnes/ha in 2014 to 1.5M tonnes/ha in 2024, while other oilseed crops – including flaxseed, rapeseed and safflower – had an average yield of 1.2M tonnes/ha last year.
“This improvement reflects the adoption of higher-quality seed varieties and better agronomic practices, particularly in northern regions,” the USDA report said.
Meanwhile, grain production in some lower-yielding parts of the country had become less viable due to climate stress and soil degradation.
The fact that the same harvesting machinery could be used in both wheat and sunflower production was another key factor in the increased interest in sunflowers.
“At the same time, sunflower production offers farmers a larger time window for planting and harvesting that doesn’t directly compete with wheat and other cereal production,” the report said.
In addition to the economic and weather-related factors spurring increased oilseed production, the Kazakh government’s new agri-food strategy is also contributing to this expansion, according to the report.
The government’s strategy has three core priorities aimed at: crop diversification; value-added processing and an increase in value-added agricultural exports.
In support of this strategy, the national oilseed producers’ association has set a goal to expand oilseed cultivation to 4M ha over the next five years (2025-29).
According to Kazakhstan’s official statistics, oilseed planted area expanded from 2.8M ha in 2020 to over 3.3M ha in 2025/2026, with sunflower the leading crop.
As part of the strategy to promote oilseed production, the Kazakh government was also giving farmers a 22,000 tenge (about US$48/tonne) subsidy when they delivered sunflowers to local processors. The measure was financed through a 20% export duty on sunflowerseeds – set at a minimum of €100 (US$116)/tonne - that generated 9.6bn tenge (US$21M) in its first year.
Alongside ramping up production of sunflowers and other oilseeds, the country was also investing in downstream infrastructure to transform raw production into high-value exports.
Between 2024-2025, the government allocated 18bn tenge (approximately US$40M) to support the construction and modernisation of oil processing facilities.
As a result of these investments, Kazakhstan’s refining capacity more than doubled – from under 300,000 tonnes in 2021 to an estimated 600,000 tonnes in 2025.
In parallel to the increase in capacity, total vegetable oil production had been increasing for the past decade from 180,000 tonnes in 2014/15 (September-August) to over 560,000 tonnes in 2023/24.
“This expansion in processing capacity aligns with the government’s goal of moving beyond raw commodity exports toward higher-value agricultural products,” the USDA said.
According to Kazakhstan’s official trade statistics, exports of vegetable oils and meal – mostly oil and meal from sunflowers –increased from less than 200,000 tonnes in 2014/15 to a record volume of more than 1M tonnes MT in 2023/24. Export earnings also surged, reaching a record of nearly US$580M in 2023/24.
In 2023/24, Uzbekistan was the largest export destination for Kazakh vegetable oils and meals, accounting for nearly 380,000 tonnes or a little more than one-third of the total. The next largest destinations were China, Tajikistan and Latvia.
Over the last two years, rail shipments of sunflower oil to China increased from 50–70 wagons/month to over 300–350/month due to the adoption of containerised flexitanks and the modernisation of unloading terminals at Khorgos, according to industry sources. These improvements had significantly boosted reliability and efficiency in oil exports. More than 20 Kazakh processing plants were now registered for export to China.
Five large oilseed processing plants with a total capacity of 421,000 tonnes were being built in the country, the Ministry of Agriculture Aidarbek Saparov was quoted as saying in a 21 July APK-Inform report. Saparov noted that sunflower oil production increased by 15% in 2024, which was twice domestic demand. In the first six months of this year, production reached 388,000 tonnes – 21.3% more than in the same period last year.
In addition, 294,000 tonnes of sunflower oil were exported between January and March – a 41% increase compared to last year.
