Agriculture Ministry of Kazakhstan puts a ban on livestock export to Uzbekistan

Kazakhstan has completely banned the export of livestock, the website of the Agriculture Ministry of Kazakhstan reported.  
 
It is noted that last year 156,000 heads of cattle were exported from Kazakhstan. It is noteworthy that the overwhelming majority – 121,600 head of cattle or 78% – were exported to Uzbekistan, another 14% – to Armenia.

Almost 264,000 head of sheep were exported from the country, of which more than half were breeding stock. The main buyer of small cattle is also Uzbekistan. Over 200,000 sheep (76%) were exported to our country. The Russian Federation purchased 21,500 head of sheep (8.1%), Azerbaijan – 18,000 (6.7%), Iran – about 12,000 (4.5%).

“The massive export of livestock for further processing and resale created the basis for speculative price increases for meat products. In addition, the current situation led to a decrease in the load of Kazakhstani meat processing enterprises and feedlots,” the ministry said. 

On average, in 2019 they were loaded less than half of their capacity. The main reason for their unloading was the shortage of raw materials resulting from the high level of livestock export.

According to the State Agribusiness Development Program for 2017-2021, the Agriculture Ministry of Kazakhstan was tasked with increasing the export of processed products by 2.5 times, the ministry was forced to take measures regarding the current situation, the Kazakhstani Ministry of Agriculture added. 

“Based on the appeals of feedlots and meat processing plants, it was decided to amend the joint order of the ministries of agriculture and finance “On some issues of export of livestock” dated October 21, 2019, which previously temporarily limited only the export of breeding stock. These changes completely prohibit the export of cattle of all age groups,” the report reads.

The introduction of changes to this order, according to the ministry’s estimates, will allow preserving and increasing the number of Kazakhstani livestock in the coming years, loading domestic meat processing plants with high-quality raw materials at affordable prices and increasing the production and export of processed products.