Kazakhstan aims to boost sugar self-sufficiency from 46% to 83% by 2030Kazakhstan plans to increase its sugar self-sufficiency rate to 83% by 2030, up from 46%, requiring a more than fourfold expansion of sugar beet planted area, a business official said.Yerken Nauryzbekov, director of the agriculture and food industry department at the Atameken national chamber of entrepreneurs, said that to achieve that goal, sugar beet area must grow to 80,000 hectares from the current roughly 17,000 hectares."The concept of agricultural development through 2030 provides that by 2030 we will bring sugar self-sufficiency to 83%," Nauryzbekov said at an international conference on the CIS sugar market. "That is, we must cover 83% of consumption through our own production."He called the target ambitious but expressed confidence Kazakhstan can reach it.Kazakhstan consumed 606,000 tonnes of sugar in 2025, Nauryzbekov said. The country's four existing sugar plants produced 278,000 tonnes, while sugar imports totaled nearly 513,000 tonnes — mostly from Russia and Belarus. Kazakhstan also exported nearly 185,000 tonnes of sugar, with 90% going to Uzbekistan.The country is actively revising its sugar industry strategy, moving from import dependence toward domestic production. Plans include building new sugar plants and modernizing existing facilities.The four sugar plants, all in southern Kazakhstan, have a combined daily processing capacity of 8,700 tonnes of sugar beets and 2,400  tonnes of raw cane sugar. Several investment projects for new sugar plants are underway or planned in various regions, including the north. (ICE ALMATY)

Fonte notizia: INTERFAX