Corn acreage in Kazakhstan grew by 60% over the year and reached 106,000 hectares. This is about 1,060 square kilometers, which is larger than the area of Astana (about 800). Corn is not planted for a side dish: this year, the Kazkhramal plant, which processes 150,000 tons of corn per year, started operating in the Turkestan region. This was reported by the Ministry of Agriculture. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The ministry reported that corn acreage grew by 60% and reached 106,000 hectares. The ministry explained that corn is needed for the raw material base of plants being built in the country.
In the Turkestan region, the Kazkhramal plant with a capacity of 150,000 tons of corn per year is already operating. In the Zhambyl region, the first stage of construction of the Fufeng Group complex has been completed. Construction of the Qostanai Grain Industry and Tiryaki Agro projects continues, and two more production facilities are planned to open in the Akmola region.
Six large investment projects are estimated at about $4 billion. Together they will be able to process 5.8 million tons of raw materials per year. Starches, gluten, amino acids, and bioethanol will be made from it.
In Kazakhstan, there are three deep grain processing enterprises with a total capacity of 510,000 tons per year. Over five years, starch product output grew 2.1 times, and bioethanol production reached 21,200 tons.
The authorities want to sell finished products abroad rather than raw materials. In the eight months of 2026, exports of processed agricultural products amounted to $3.04 billion, 35.1% more than a year earlier. The share of processing in agricultural exports reached 54.1%.
The Ministry of Agriculture believes that projects and support measures will allow "moving from a predominantly raw material export model to increasing supplies of finished products and deep processing products." About 230 billion tenge was allocated in 2024-2026 to replenish the working capital of processors.
Earlier, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, at the Kazakhstan-China investment forum, via video link, took part in the launch ceremony of a deep corn processing plant and gave a start to the construction of an industrial park in the Zhambyl region.