East Kazakhstan Region, 23 October. The Kurultai's Committee on Economic Policy, Industry and Energy held an off-site meeting in East Kazakhstan region, where deputies discussed support for domestic food producers and drew attention to underused dairy, meat, oil and fat, and flour-milling plants, the Kurultai press service reported.
Opening the meeting, committee chair Natalya Godunova said that despite its considerable agricultural potential Kazakhstan still imports large volumes of food. The situation can be changed, she said, by developing the processing of domestic raw materials and raising the competitiveness of products and the effectiveness of state support.
Deputy regional governor Renat Kurmambayev gave the region's figures: in the first nine months of 2026, East Kazakhstan produced food worth 256.8 billion tenge, up 7.9% in real terms. Investment in the region's food industry rose 12% to 2.8 billion tenge.
Deputy Vadim Basin pointed out that existing plants are not fully loaded. He proposed analysing the reasons and drawing up measures to provide plants with raw materials, financing and markets. Vice-Minister of Agriculture Nazgul Khatepova and Vice-Minister of Trade and Integration Aset Nussupov spoke about state support for farmers and processors, financing mechanisms and trade infrastructure; company managers also presented proposals.
The deputies visited three producers: the Vostok-Moloko corporation, the Ukrainka farm and the Altai Mai plant. The Kurultai did not say how fully their capacity is used or what specific measures participants proposed. Recommendations from the meeting will be sent to the Government, and the committee will take them into account when improving legislation on support for domestic producers.
What it means: East Kazakhstan is producing more food, but plants that have already been built stand idle part of the time for lack of raw materials, money and buyers. The deputies want the Government to solve that problem before building new capacity.
Who benefits: Milk, meat, oil and flour processors, if the recommendations turn into support with raw materials and loans. Farmers who supply raw materials would gain extra demand. Consumers would be less dependent on imported food if plant utilisation really rises; deadlines and measures have not yet been named.
Background: The Kurultai is Kazakhstan's single-chamber parliament; its committees regularly hold off-site meetings in the regions. The Ministry of Trade and Integration and the Ministry of Agriculture are responsible for state support for processors and for trade infrastructure.
List of sources used: Kurultai
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
