Kazakhstan’s foreign trade up 7.2% in 1H
Kazakhstan’s foreign trade turnover reached 71.8 billion US dollars in January-June 2026, increasing by 7.2 percent compared with the same period last year, the National Statistics Bureau said on Monday, Qazinform News Agency reports.
Exports amounted to 40.3 billion US dollars, up 8.6 percent year over year, while imports rose 5.4 percent to 31.5 billion US dollars.
Kazakhstan’s trade turnover with members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) totaled 15.2 billion US dollars, representing an increase of 8.7 percent from a year earlier.
Exports to EAEU countries, however, declined by 3.5 percent to 4.6 billion US dollars, while imports increased 15 percent to 10.6 billion US dollars.
Russia accounted for the largest share of Kazakhstan’s trade within the EAEU at 87.2 percent, followed by Kyrgyzstan at 8.4 percent, Belarus at 4.1 percent and Armenia at 0.3 percent.
Crude oil and crude oil products continued to dominate Kazakhstan’s exports, accounting for 46.5 percent of total exports.
Other major export commodities included refined copper and unwrought copper alloys at 7.1 percent, copper ores and concentrates at 5.1 percent, radioactive chemical elements and isotopes at 3.7 percent, and ferroalloys at 2.7 percent.
China was Kazakhstan’s largest export destination, accounting for 18.6 percent of total exports. Italy followed with 17.3 percent, Russia with 8.6 percent, Türkiye with 8 percent, the Netherlands with 6.4 percent and France with 5.7 percent.
Passenger cars and other motor vehicles represented the largest category of Kazakhstan’s imports, accounting for 3.2 percent of the total.
Other major imported goods included mobile phones at 2.7 percent, pharmaceutical products at 2.5 percent, petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons at 2.5 percent, and electric generating sets and rotary electrical converters at 2.3 percent.
Russia remained Kazakhstan’s largest source of imports, accounting for 30.9 percent of total imports. China ranked second with 29.1 percent, followed by Germany at 4.8 percent, the United States at 4.2 percent, South Korea at 2.5 percent and Türkiye at 2.2 percent.
Earlier, Qazinform reported Kazakhstan’s rail freight transport maintains growth in the first seven months of 2026.