The foreign trade surplus shrank by 21.9% y/y to USD 18.1bn, the State Stat Agency has informed. Kazakhstan’s foreign trade turnover amounted to USD 63.4bn, which is 1.8% y/y less than in the same period of previous year. In particular, imports stood at USD 22.6bn, which is 9.4% y/y increase in the reporting period. At the same time exports fell by 7.1% y/y down to USD 40.8bn.
The main export markets for Kazakhstan are Italy and China, which accounted for 16.4% and 15.8% respectively of Kazakhstan’s total exports in H1. They were followed by Netherlands (14.2%), Russia (7.7%) and France (6.9%).
Russia by far is the key imports origin as it accounted for 38% of total Kazakhstan’s imports in H1. Other partners in Kazakhstan’s imports include China (16.9%), Ukraine (4.9%), Germany (4.7%) and United States (4.6%).
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