Hungary’s UBM seeks to capitalise on the expanding Kazakhstan’s feed market
Hungary’s UBM Group has officially confirmed plans to invest $83 million in the construction of a host of feed production capacities in Kazakhstan between 2025 and 2028, the Kazakhstan Agricultural Ministry said in a statement.
The declared plans involve the construction of 3 feed mills and a premix facility with unspecified production performance.
During a meeting with the UBM Group delegation, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Agriculture, Aidarbek Saparov, promised “full support in the implementation of these projects”.
UBM Group plans to cover the investment costs with a soft bank loan, Péter Horváth, CEO of UBM Group, told local news outlet Index.
The company has long been planning to enter the Central Asian region, he added.
“Our first target was Uzbekistan, but at the suggestion of one of our owners, Focus Ventures, we eventually chose Kazakhstan, where we knocked on open doors,” Horváth said.
He added that UBM Group plans to bring the most advanced production technology and eventually become a market leader in the country.
A growth in demand
The seeds of the UBM Group’s efforts fall on the fertile ground of the feed market with huge potential.
UBM Group’s forecast for the growth of Kazakhstan’s feed market is optimistic. The poultry industry’s feed demand is expected to surge by 50% in the next 4 years, reaching approximately 2.6 million tons per year. Even in a predominantly Muslim country, the demand from the pig industry is projected to grow by a third to 577,000 tonnes per year. In the cattle feed segment, feed consumption is expected to grow by nearly 60% to 3.1 million tonnes by 2029.
In total, Kazakhstan is expected to see its demand on the domestic feed market rising from the current 4 million tonnes to 6.3 million tonnes in 2029.
Focus on Central Asia
The company is not just planning to gain a foothold in Kazakhstan but rather considers its Kazakhstan venture as a bridgehead to the entire Central Asian region.
“We would like to contribute to spreading the outstanding sectoral know-how based on our group’s research and development activities, as well as the most advanced technology in Kazakhstan, promoting the further development of livestock industry and agriculture in the region as a whole,” Horváth said.
UBM Group plans to import feed ingredients from China to the premix facility. With the Asian superpower within reach, the premium-quality premix produced in Kazakhstan can be exported back to China thanks to well-developed transport routes. Still, surrounding countries could also be a potential market, the company added.
