Kazakhstani exports of processed goods down 6% in 2023 – Ashimbayev
Over the past five year, the share of the manufacturing industry in the GDP has risen from 11.4% to 12%, closely approaching to that of the mining industry, Kazakh Senate Speaker Maulen Ashimbayev said, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
In 2018 and 2023, the volume of manufacturing production rose by almost twice to up to 22 trillion tenge. The physical volume of production increased by 24.4% with an average annual growth of 4.5% during these five years, said Ashimbayev, addressing the parliamentary hearings on the development of the manufacturing sector in the Senate.
Despite that, the Senate Speaker pointed out that it is important to step up the dynamics to achieve strategic tasks. Ashimbayev noted the significance of not only growth in gross indices but also in the quality development of the sector.
As of now, metallurgy accounts for around 40% of the manufacturing industry – mainly, low-added value products, goods of intermediate consumption, that is, industrial commodities, said Ashimbayev.
The same can be observed in the non-commodity exports. Kazakhstan occupies 88th place out of 130 in the Economic Complexity Index. The country’s exports of processed goods dropped by almost 6% in 2023 and by 6.5% in the first quarter of this year. Uranium export has declined by over 24%, and export of ferroalloys by 15.5%.
According to Ashimbayev, the number of active legal entities in the manufacturing industry has doubled in the past 10 years, of which 96% are small-sized, 2.5% - medium-sized and around 1% large-sized business entities.
