Iranian food group Solico will build a large cheese-making plant in Kazakhstan's Almaty region under an investment agreement worth KZT35.2bn ($66mn), the Ministry of Agriculture June 12, citing the national chamber of entrepreneurs.

The deal deepens trade and economic ties between Kazakhstan and Iran, and follows a framework cooperation agreement signed in December 2025 during the Iranian president's visit to the Central Asian country, as Astana courts foreign investors to expand value-added food processing.

The plant, with annual capacity of 155,000 tonnes, is being built in the Almaty region, where construction and installation work is already under way, the report stated. The agreement was signed by Kazakh Agriculture Minister Aidarbek Saparov and Solico Group president Gholam Ali Soleimani.

Saparov said attracting strategic investors into agricultural processing was a key government policy, noting that cheese and cottage-cheese output in Kazakhstan rose 13.1% in 2025. He said the project would expand processing capacity and create a guaranteed market for domestic milk producers.

Soleimani described Kazakhstan as a long-term strategic partner with significant agricultural potential and a favourable investment climate, and said the company was studying further projects in potato processing and baby-food production.

The agreement provides a package of state incentives, including the supply of engineering infrastructure to the site. Construction is due to be completed and the plant commissioned in 2029.

The investor committed to creating at least 400 permanent jobs, training Kazakh specialists and transferring production technology, the report said. The company also plans to direct about KZT50mn a year to social initiatives in the Almaty region between 2028 and 2038.

Solico Group began in the 1970s as a small meat-products business founded by Soleimani in Tehran and grew into one of Iran’s biggest food conglomerates, later expanding into dairy, ice cream, beverages and wider regional distribution.

Its foreign-investment push has increasingly centred on overseas production hubs rather than passive stakes, most notably an AED 130mn SoFood plant in Jebel Ali Free Zone and investments in the Lotus Free Zone in Russia across the Caspian Sea.