Aktobe, 19 October. About 200 workers at the Aktobe ferroalloy plant of Kazchrome, part of the Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), protested outside the plant demanding higher pay: they say production targets keep rising while their earnings have not changed for three years.
According to the metallurgists, they earn 380,000–400,000 tenge a month, and smelters 500,000–600,000 tenge. Food is getting more expensive, household costs are rising, and money goes less and less far. "They raised the plan. They did not raise our pay. Three years on the same wage. Food has gone up. Our children can no longer eat properly. That is why we are all standing here," one worker said. Electrician Rinat Duisengaliyev, who has worked at the plant for more than six years, says his base pay has not been raised for two years and his earnings have even fallen; people also complained that they cannot take proper holidays.
A representative of the regional labour inspectorate, Akylbek Zeinollauly, came out to the protesters and suggested electing two or three people from each shop to collect complaints through a working group. The metallurgists refused: they wanted to hear a decision on wages in front of the whole workforce. Then Yerzhan Abdulabekov, general director of TNC Kazchrome, came out to them. "If we keep gathering like this, wages will not rise. If we sit here, will that raise wages? Some employees now have questions. We are recording them in the minutes and will keep working," he said, urging people to return to work.
The issue cannot be resolved on the spot, the director said: 40% of the company belongs to the state, and a decision requires approval. Abdulabekov explained that the plant also faces rising costs: "You say prices have gone up. We feel it too. Coke and electricity are getting more expensive, production costs are rising. But unfortunately selling prices are not." He promised to raise wages after the New Year; the size of the increase, he said, will be known at the end of the year, when the company sums up its results.
During the protest, workers reported that the fourth shop, which accounts for 60% of the plant's output and houses 72 MW direct-current furnaces, had stopped. The director attributed the stoppage to a technical fault outside the shop; the first and second shops were operating. Representatives of the Aktobe regional authorities and the plant management promised to resolve the issue the next day and assured workers there would be no dismissals, but the protesters demanded an immediate decision and did not disperse.
Ferroalloys are alloys of iron with chromium, silicon, manganese and other elements; steel cannot be made without them, so demand depends on the global steel industry and costs on the price of the electricity that powers the furnaces.
Background: In May 2026 businessman Shakhmurat Mutalip bought 39.3% of ERG's shares from Patokh Chodiev and the heirs of Alexander Mashkevich, and in August the state transferred its 40% stake in the group to the Samruk-Kazyna fund; ERG's Kazakh assets, including Kazchrome, are managed by Eurasian Group LLP, headed since 30 May by Kudrat Shamiyev.
List of sources used: Ulysmedia, Metals ESG Trends
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
