Kazakhstanis prefer to buy imported food stuffs

ASTANA. KAZINFORM Kazakhstani manufacturers of food stuffs are raising prices for their products. This makes ordinary citizens buy imported products instead of home-made ones, Kazinform refers to finprom.kz.    

In 2016, with the consideration of inflation, food prices were raised by 17% compared to 2015 (4.6%). The producers could not fix their prices because of free floating exchange rate. For Kazakhstani consumers, rise in food prices reached 17.6%, while for buyers from the CIS countries it made 7.4%.

The main reason for food prices jump is high production costs. Crude materials and equipment for food industry went up by 6% in 2015. Due to sharp weakening of the tenge, external suppliers’ services rose in prices too. The cost of non-consumer goods imported from the CIS rose by 42.5%, and from non-CIS countries – by 56.4%.

Kazakhstan’s food industry market tries to maintain the paces of manufacture which led to reduction of the number of active players to 11% in 2016 (the minimum level in the past 5 years).

 

Food production is one of priority areas of the country’s Forced Industrial and Innovative Development Programme 2. The programme provides for attraction of foreign investors and implementation of high-added value investment projects.