Kazakhstan has launched the Agromarket agri-food platform, where farmers from Central Asian countries can sell their products. However, for now, the platform is dominated by offers for the sale of fruits, vegetables, dried fruits, sweets, and other products from Tajikistan. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The Agromarket platform (agromarket.asia) was created to develop cross-border online trade in Kazakhstan, the Digital Economy Development Center reported.
"Kazakhstan has launched the digital agri-food platform Agromarket (www.agromarket.asia), aimed at developing domestic and cross-border trade in agricultural products. The project is designed to become a digital ecosystem for cross-border agricultural trade, uniting producers, buyers, banks, logistics companies, warehouses, and analytical services," the distributed message said.
Users can post goods and announcements about supply and demand on the electronic trading platform, find partners for supplies, use the services of logistics companies, and also process transactions digitally. According to the company, the platform opens new opportunities not only for importing goods from abroad but also for Kazakhstani exporters.
"Today, many farmers simply do not know how to enter the foreign market and find a reliable partner. The platform is designed to solve this problem," the message notes.
At the same time, of the 74 product and service offers presented on the platform's website at the time of publication, Kazakhstan's share is in the minority. These include Tomiko diapers for 2-5 and 4-6 kg, offered for delivery from Taraz.
From the Almaty region, alfalfa granules are offered for sale, from Kyzylorda region - rice seeds from 265 tenge per kg, from North Kazakhstan region - third-class wheat from 100 thousand tenge per ton, from Kostanay region - spring wheat "elite" from 160 thousand tenge per ton, from Almaty region - poultry meat at a negotiated price.
The system also has offers from Kazakhstan to purchase various products. In particular, these are two offers from Almaty to buy fruits and berries (companies want to buy large cherries and potatoes), as well as logistics platform services in Almaty and an offer to buy confectionery from Almaty.
Most of the remaining offers for the supply of fruits, vegetables, berries, and other items - apricots, dates and walnuts in chocolate, dried apricots, raisins, nuts, apples, beets, grapes, pears, lemons, candies, caramel (cost from $1.5 per kg) and so on - come from Tajikistan. The vast majority of offers are presented at a "negotiated" price without specifying specific parameters of at least the starting cost.
In addition, dairy products from Belarus are offered on the platform.
According to the company, ready-made contract templates and their signing using electronic digital signatures are already available for participants from Kazakhstan. The platform supports several languages, including Kazakh, Russian, English, Tajik, and Chinese.
"Agromarket is not just a marketplace. We are creating an agro-platform where a farmer can post their offer, indicate product volumes, and find buyers - retail chains, markets, or processors. At the same time, buyers can publish their needs and find suppliers. Our task is to make agricultural trade simpler, more transparent, and more accessible for all market participants," said Inkar Khusainova, director of the department at the Digital Economy Development Center.
In the near future, participants from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are expected to connect, as well as expansion of cooperation with other foreign markets.
As part of the platform's work, the first contracts have already been signed between a Tajik fruit producer - the dekhkan farm "Kamol-Khoji" - and the Kazakhstani online supermarket Arbuz.kz for the supply of fresh grapes.
In addition, through Agromarket.asia, a contract was concluded with one of the country's largest wholesale markets, "Sharyn," for the supply of agricultural products. The total amount of signed contracts exceeded $1 million.
Participants from China are also showing interest in the platform. Work is underway with trade and industry organizations on organizing supplies of Kazakhstani products to the Chinese market. At the same time, negotiations continue with partners from Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and Italy on placing goods and developing joint trade mechanisms.
The project developer is the Digital Economy Development Center (part of Kazakhtelecom), and its implementation is carried out with the support of the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB).
Earlier, Trade Minister Arman Shakkaliev spoke about plans to create two marketplaces aimed at business. One is intended for the purchase of agricultural products, the other for wholesale purchases from China.