Kazakhstan has reduced sunflower seed exports due to high prices and customs duties, APK News reports.
According to the Bureau of National Statistics, sunflower seed exports from Kazakhstan totaled 134,000 tons in the first seven months of the 2025/26 marketing year (January-March), a 16.5% decrease compared to the same period last year. This was reported by Yevgeny Karabanov, Head of the Analytics Committee of the Kazakhstan Grain Union.
The main reason for the decline is the high cost of sunflower seed in Kazakhstan and the export customs duty.
Compared to the same period last marketing year, sunflower seed exports increased only to Turkey – by 5.8 times, to 7,000 tons.
However, compared to the same period last marketing year, sunflower seed shipments to the following other countries decreased:
China – by 17%, to 111,100 tons;
Uzbekistan – by 4.5 times, to 3,000 tons;
Tajikistan increased almost 2.8 times, to 0.9 thousand tons.
"China, the main buyer of Kazakhstan's sunflower seeds, purchased 83% of the total export volume in the first seven months of the current marketing year. In the previous marketing year, this figure was 84%," commented E. Karabanov.
In the first seven months of the 2025/26 marketing year, sunflower seed exports reached 65% of the projected annual export potential.
Sunflower seed imports, primarily from Russia's border regions, totaled 71 thousand tons in the first seven months of the current marketing year, which is only 0.7% less than the same period last marketing year.
"We are leaving our previous forecast for Kazakhstan's sunflower seed exports in the current marketing year unchanged – 205 thousand tons," noted the Union expert.
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