In the first five months of 2025, Kazakhstan’s revenues from foreign trade decreased by 9.2%. If in January-May 2024 the country earned $32.8 billion from exports, then in the same period of the current year the figure was $29.8 billion, more than $3 billion less, finprom.kz reported with reference to data from the Bureau of National Statistics.
The bulk of the missing amount – $2.4 billion – was due to decreased exports of fuel and energy resources. The exports of oil, natural gas, and other raw materials in January-May of this year amounted to only $16.9 billion, 12.6% less than in the first five months of 2024.
Exports of many categories of manufactured goods also fell: in metallurgy – by 6.5%, in the chemical industry – by 17.7%, in mechanical engineering – by 21.7%.
Customs statistics show that the raw material dependence of Kazakhstan’s exports has remained at a fairly high level in recent years. From 2019 to 2024, the share of fuel and energy products in exports fluctuated within 65%-67%, and in January-May 2025, their share decreased to 56.9%. According to QazTrade analysts, the share of high-value added products in foreign trade last year was only 13.5%. Over the year, the figure grew by only 1.4 percent.
The export of Kazakhstan’s main export commodity – crude oil – decreased by 6.6% in January-May 2025, from 31.2 million to 29.1 million tons. In monetary terms, it decreased by 13.9%, making Kazakhstan lose $2.6 billion.
Exports of metallurgical products decreased significantly: refined copper – by 20.6%, copper ores and concentrates – by 26.8%, iron ore – by 16.4%, aluminum – by 10.4%. In addition, Kazakhstan sold significantly less uranium to its trading partners – by 24.2%.
Commodities whose export increased include ferroalloys (by 8.1%), wheat and meslin (58.3%), rolled iron (13.1%), as well as fuel assemblies for nuclear reactors.
The reduction in the value of exports negatively affected the dynamics of Kazakhstan’s foreign trade turnover. In the first five months of this year, it amounted to $53.5 billion, 4.5% less than a year earlier, while the country’s imports grew by 2.2%. As in the previous year, European countries remained the main buyers of Kazakhstani goods. In January-May 2025, Italy was the largest importer of Kazakhstani products – 23.1%, for a total of $6.9 billion. China was the second-largest importer of Kazakhstani goods, increasing its share from 17.4% to 17.6% ($5.2 billion). Russia was in the third place, importing cars, chemical products, non-ferrous and ferrous metal ores, and other goods from Kazakhstan for $2.9 billion.
