At a briefing for Kazakh media last week in Nur-Sultan, Almat Oryngalily, representative of the National Accreditation Center of Kazakhstan, made a loud statement. According to him, previously recorded cases of non-admission of products manufactured in Kazakhstan to foreign markets were associated with deficient equipment in Kazakhstan’s certification laboratories. “These were grain products, rapeseed oil, dairy products and others. The reasons in all cases were similar and concerned the discovery in express tests of undeclared indicators in the composition of the products”, noted Almat Oryngalily, noting that this led to a negative perception of Kazakh products in foreign markets.

The head of the Department of Methodology and Regulation of the National Accreditation Center also expressed confidence that the modernization and re-accreditation of Kazakhstan’s laboratories, of which only 2-3% today meet the requirements of importing countries, will improve Kazakhstan’s export potential. in the food market world.

According to EAEU regulations

Cooperating with the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs “Atameken” and the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), an expert in the field of technical regulation Daulet Sutemgenov is surprised by the proposals of an official of the National Accreditation Center. In a conversation with DW, he noted that for Kazakh goods to enter foreign markets, there is no need to obtain a Kazakh-style certificate. After all, there are still no unified product quality standards in the world, and each country must certify goods from abroad according to its internal technical regulations.

“Somehow we dealt with the issue of exporting honey from a large producer in eastern Kazakhstan to China and Europe. It turned out that the standards in China differ from the requirements of Kazakhstan. Therefore, to sell goods in China even that there are buyers, the conclusions of their experts are necessary. It also happened in Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria, where they have their own internal registers of food products,” said Sutemgenov.

Referring directly to Almat Oryngalily’s statement, the expert emphasized that all laboratories in Kazakhstan operate exclusively under market conditions based on the EAEU technical regulations that are a priority for the country. “You have to understand that there are subordinate companies that are trying to put resources into the budget for the purchase of equipment,” noted an expert in the field of technical regulation in an interview with DW.

At the same time, he added that Kazakh businessmen expect more support from the government in the form of assistance in actively promoting their products in foreign markets, including through diplomatic channels. Kazakhstan, believes the expert, has quite a lot of potential in the food sector. “The northern regions are grains. The southern regions are vegetables and fruits, as well as high quality organic products. Our fish from Lake Zaisan and Alakol are already exported to Europe. The western regions with their Caspian Sea have great opportunities. , such as saumal (mare’s milk. –Ed.), koumiss, kurt, irimshik (a kind of dry cheese. –Ed.). The potential is huge, but it is necessary to analyze possible supplies to Europe at the government level,” said Daulet Sutemgenov.

Export potential with some reserves

Economist Magbat Spanov also talks about Kazakhstan’s serious food potential. According to him, Kazakhstan has the opportunity to seriously expand its presence in various food products, for example, in the European market.

At the same time, in conversation with DW, he admitted that it is very difficult for Kazakhstan to compete with Russia, which is under sanctions. “Since 2014, Russia has made, I would say, a powerful advance in the field of food security. It supplies itself with 80% of basic food products. Especially in the production of grains, butter, sugar, meat. Unfortunately, for meat and sugar , we do not have these indicators. As for grains, we are trying to follow up, but their average productivity is 12 to 16 million tons per year. And due to the population growth observed in our country, it is too early to talk about the expansion of the sales market of our products,” he said in his DW Magbat Spanov commentary.

In the spring of 2022, Kazakhstan faced a sugar shortage

At the same time, the economist fears a possible loss of the Kazakhstan grain market in Afghanistan, which has recently agreed grain supplies with Russia, as well as the flour market in Uzbekistan, which has recently started to refuse its supplies from Kazakhstan in favor of to buy wheat, actively developing its own flour production. According to Spanov, before increasing its presence in the global food market, Kazakhstan needs to develop a government program that saturates the domestic market with affordable products and guarantees the country’s food security.

Kazakhstan’s “Resource Curse”?

For his part, Arman Beisembayev, an economist and independent financial analyst, is skeptical about Kazakhstan’s ability to become a more prominent player in the global food market. This is due to the fact, he believes, that the Republic of Kazakhstan is still a country living under the “resource curse”.

“Let’s face it, we are a classic, textbook economics, autocratic kleptocratic state that is going through the ‘Dutch disease’ stage, but only with oil. We just don’t have to see it. its existence,” Beisembaev said in conversation with DW, expressing the hope that the government would release domestic farmers into a free economic field without interfering with their activity. If this happens, the expert believes, Kazakhstan, indeed, with great potential, will be able to successfully compete in the global food market.