Kazakhstan Diversifies Crop Focus Amid Grain Processing Expansion

Kazakhstan is shifting its focus from wheat to oilseeds and deep grain processing. The country has reduced the share of grains in its crop structure, decreasing it from 72% to 66%, while increasing the share of oilseeds from 13% to 18%. Oilseed area has expanded to 5.2 million hectares, with 2.4 million hectares harvested by early October, producing 2.4 million tons.

The final oilseed crop is expected to exceed 5 million tons. Kazakhstan remains one of the world's largest wheat producers, ranking 11th globally with a share of around 2.3% of world output. Grains have been harvested from 13.5 million hectares, producing 19.9 million tons at an average yield of 1.47 t/ha.

The country is placing greater emphasis on deep grain processing, planning to implement six major investment projects by 2029 with a combined annual capacity of 5.8 million tons and total investment of around $4 billion. Two deep corn processing projects have already been launched in 2026: Kazkrahmal in Turkistan region and a Fufeng Group project in Zhambyl region.