Kazakhstan to boost feed sector in support of dairy sector

In 2023, Kazakhstan kicked off a big project of building 11 new dairy farms across the country, Serik Zhumangarin, deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan outlined during a government meeting. In light of this, feed supply has become an issue of strategic importance.

Designed production capacity of 66 feed mills operating in Kazakhstan is 2.2 million tons, but the actual output is far from that figure. The average capacity utilisation ratio in the industry stands at 41.6%, which means that the production is limited to 900,000 tons per year.

Today, we are working to make a qualitative transition from preparing feed ‘the old-fashioned way’ to introducing new technologies, which proved to work successfully in other countries.

^{Serik Zhumangarin, deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan}

Modernising the feed sector

The Kazakh government put together an industry development plan, under which the production is expected to grow to 1.9 million tonnes, worth 140 billion tenge ($300 million) by 2027. Among other things, the authorities plan to slightly raise the sowing area under feed crops to 3.3 million ha, against 3.1 million in 2023.

The key goal, however, is to make the feed industry more effective. A large number of farms in the country reportedly still feed their animals with feed mixed in-house, and the authorities plan to change that.

“Today, we are working to make a qualitative transition from preparing feed ‘the old-fashioned way’ to introducing new technologies, which proved to work successfully in other countries. With proper distribution of even the volumes of feed that have already been prepared in the regions, the industry would be sufficient for the coming year,” Zhumangarin said.

The biggest feed mill is on the horizon

The declared production goals seem to be within grasp. Chinese company Xian AiJu Cereals Oil Industry Group Co., Ltd has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Kazakh Invest, a government agency facilitating foreign investments in the country, to build a feed mill in the North Kazakhstan region with a capacity of 300,000 tons per year.

With the investment cost of $16 million, the plant is expected to be built in one year, Kazakh Invest reported, adding that the production will be primarily used to meet the demand on the domestic market, though some share of feed will be exported.

Ambitious plans

Kazakhstan harbours ambitious plans to boost poultry, pork and aquaculture production in the coming years.

In 2022, the Kazakh union of poultry farmers laid out plans to boost broiler meat production to 600,000 tonnes in 2027, from 283,000 last year.