Declining Profitability and Growing Debt: Trends in Kazakhstan's Agricultural Sector

According to Kazakhstan's Bureau of National Statistics, the gross output of products and services in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries increased by 3.4% in the first half of this year, reaching 1.5919 trillion tenge. Growth was noted in various segments: crop production increased by 3% to 83.1 billion tenge, livestock production by 3.5% to 1.4836 trillion tenge, and the volume of services in this sector amounted to 0.9 billion tenge.

However, despite the increase in output, the profitability of the sector halved in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year — from 12.9% to 6.6%. Additionally, the debt of enterprises in the sector remains a problem, reaching almost 1.3 trillion tenge, including wage arrears amounting to 4.8 billion tenge. The report does not contain data on overdue wage payments.

Changes in agricultural product prices in June this year were minimal, with an overall increase of 0.1%. There was a rise in crop product prices by 0.2%, while livestock product prices decreased by 0.4%. Specifically, prices for dried peas rose by 2.6%, linseed by 1.9%, dried lentils by 1.6%, forage grains by 0.9%, and wheat by 0.5%. Conversely, prices for rapeseed decreased by 1.6%. There was a noticeable decrease in the prices of greenhouse tomatoes by 8.2%, greenhouse cucumbers by 5.2%, and cabbage by 0.5%. Natural honey became more expensive by 2.3%, while poultry meat prices fell by 1.1%, and raw milk became cheaper by 0.4%.