In the first quarter of 2026, Kazakhstan's total foreign trade reached 32.9 billion US dollars, an increase of 10.5% compared to the same period last year. Among them, the export trade volume was 18 billion US dollars, an increase of 9.4%; The import trade volume was 14.9 billion US dollars, an increase of 11.8% year-on-year.

The country's import scale has increased, mainly due to the rising demand for investment equipment and technology goods. The import scale of generator sets has surged fivefold, reaching a total of 416.8 million US dollars. The import volume of categories such as gas turbines, aviation engines, refined oil products, railway locomotives, and raw material sorting and processing equipment has also significantly increased.

The scale of non raw material commodity trade reached 20.4 billion US dollars during the same period, an increase of 13.5% year-on-year. The export value of such goods increased to 6.9 billion US dollars, an increase of 23.4%, becoming a key driving force for the transformation and upgrading of the local foreign trade structure. The main export categories include copper materials, silver products, uranium raw materials, ferroalloys, feed products, and sunflower seed oil. Among them, the export growth rate of sunflower seed oil is nearly 60%, with a trade value of 277.8 million US dollars. Keywords: Kazakhstan, China, economic and trade cooperation

At present, China firmly holds the position of Kazakhstan's largest trading partner, with a trade volume of 7.8 billion US dollars, accounting for 23.8% of its total foreign trade. It is followed by Russia, Italy, Türkiye and Uzbekistan. Kazakhstan's export to Italy exceeded 3 billion dollars, further consolidating its export advantage in the European market.Editor/Gong Ziwei