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Kazakhstan president urges to start domestic production of basic foods

08 April 2015 [10:15] - TODAY.AZ

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

The Kazakh president has instructed the government to start production of the basic food product, currently imported.

Nursultan Nazarbayev said at a meeting with Kazakh Agriculture Minister Asylzhan Mamytbekov on April 6 that import substitution for the provision of basic food products is a priority issue for Kazakhstan, Kazakh media reported.

“It is necessary to start domestic production of food products that are currently imported, such as poultry meat, sausages, and apples. In general, we need to increase the processing and added value of agricultural produce,” the presidential press service quoted Nazarbayev as saying.

The agriculture minister said saw a decrease in imports by six percent in 2014 Kazakhstan compared to 2013, and by 10 percent from the Eurasian Economic Union countries (Russia and Belarus).

Kazakhstan annually imports agricultural produce and food products worth $4 billion, including around $1 billion worth of products that cannot be produced in Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan’s president earlier called on citizens to buy domestic products.

“My proposal is to organize in all shops and supermarkets sections with the trademark ‘Made in Kazakhstan’ — it is a patriotic act for all Kazakhstanis,” Novosti-Kazakhstan quoted Nursultan Nazarbayev as saying at the congress of the ruling Nur Otan party in March.

As part of the campaign, sections with products of domestic manufacturers should be marked with special colored labels with the inscription "Made in Kazakhstan", to highlight Kazakhstan’s products among other goods and make them more attractive to buyers.

As Kazakhstan is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union and Moscow is one of the largest partners of Astana, the Central Asia’s biggest country has been strongly affected by the harsh economic downturn Russia has undergone as the result of sanctions.

After the dramatic fall of the Russian ruble at the end of 2014, people have favored changing tenge to rubles for shopping in Russia. Therefore, Kazakh producers have faced great difficulties. With Russian products appearing more attractive to consumers their profits plummeted.

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URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/139678.html

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