European Union – Kazakhstan 2021 Trade Up 25.6%
Belt and Road Initiative rail freight infrastructure benefitting numerous countries
Kazakhstan’s Statistics Committee has stated that Kazakhstan’s trade with the countries of the European Union reached US$28.4 billion during the period January – November 2021, which is a 25.6% increase over the US$22.6 billion achieved during the same period in 2020.
Kazakhstan’s largest trade partner among the EU was Italy with indicators worth US$8.6 billion, an annual increase of 25.7%. Kazakh imports from Italy reached US$720.3 million.
Kazakhstan’s second largest EU trade partner was the Netherlands with trade value of US$4.1 billion over the 11 months of 2021, up 35.5%. Kazakhstan imported US$196.1 million from the Netherlands during the same period.
Third was France, with bilateral trade at US$2.7 billion over the 11 months, an increase of 12.7%. Kazakh exports to France stood at U$2.1 billion while the country imported US$589.7 million worth of goods.
Kazakhstan’s total foreign trade turnover amounted to US$91.3 billion over the period from January through November 2021, an increase of 15.4% compared to US$79.1 billion during the same period last year. This means that the EU accounts for 31% of all Kazakh foreign trade.
The increase is trade has largely been due to the increased amount of freight moving across Eurasia from China to Europe, with the trans-Kazakh route one of the heaviest used. Kazakh imports from China usually arrive by the same rail route and reached about US$8 billion in value in 2021. With these containers being offloaded at Kazakhstan, space is then available for Kazakh goods to continue west to Europe.
Kazakhstan and the EU signed an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA), which entered into force on 1 March 2020, and this has also helped boost bilateral trade.
Most bilateral trade between the EU and Kazakhstan is in the industrial sector, Kazakhstan being a major energy play, although exports of cottons and some agricultural products are also increasing. The EU has pending EPCA with Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan awaiting ratification, trade from these countries would also use in part the same freight routing, although Turkmenistan has a Caspian Port at Turkmenbashi. Kazakh goods are usually exported via Aqtau. Both then cross the Caspian and transit to the EU via Baku in Azerbaijan on rail heading through the Caucasus, Turkey and across the Black Sea to Romania or Bulgaria.
Related Reading
About Us
Chris Devonshire-Ellis is the Chairman of Dezan Shira & Associates. The firm assists British and Foreign Investment into Asia and has 28 offices throughout China, India, the ASEAN nations and Russia. For strategic and business intelligence concerning China’s Belt & Road Initiative please email silkroad@dezshira.com or visit us at www.dezshira.com
