For the first time ever, Kazakhstan entered the club of the world’s top 10 largest sunflower oil exporters, taking 8th place in 2024, according to the country’s Ministry of Trade and Integration.
Kazakhstan exports sunflower oil to neighboring Central Asian countries and China, with plans to expand the exports to Middle East countries.
Kazakhstan has also become one of the top three leading suppliers of sunflower millcake (used as food for cattle) to the European Union.
Over the past three years, sunflower oil production in Kazakhstan has grown by 2.5 times and exports by 4.8 times.
Last year, export revenues from sunflower oil and cake reached $562 million. In the coming years, Kazakhstan plans to increase this figure to $1 billion annually. Such growth will become possible due to the country’s program to diversify agricultural crops area, shifting away from wheat to more profitable oilseed crops, primarily sunflower.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2024, the area under oilseed crops in Kazakhstan reached 2.9 million hectares and will be further expanded to 3.3 million hectares by 2030.
In January-March 2025, sunflower oil production increased by 23.1% to 210,000 tons.
Sunflower oil is only part of Kazakhstan’s total vegetable oil production, which also includes rapeseed and other types of cooking oil.
In 2024, Kazakhstan produced a total of 753,000 tons of vegetable oil, 12% more than in 2023, and increased vegetable oil exports by 29%.
The main importers of Kazakhstan’s vegetable oil are China – 42.4%, Uzbekistan – 35.4%, Tajikistan – 12.7%, Afghanistan – 3.2%, Kyrgyzstan – 1.4%, Latvia and Turkmenistan – 1.8% each.
