Fish and seafood prices soar in Kazakhstan, while production declines

Kazakhstan's fish production is down by 10.5% in the first nine months of 2024, with fresh, chilled or frozen fish down by 19%, and the industry struggling to meet market demands. The country imports more fish than it produces, meeting only 46.9% of local demand. Prices for fish and seafood have increased by 7.3% in retail sales, with some regions seeing up to a 20.6% increase.

Fish production in Kazakhstan is declining. Thus, in January-September 2024, the country produced 9.3 thousand tons of fish cooked or preserved in other ways, as well as caviar and its substitutes - 10.5% less than in the same period of 2023. Such data was provided by the industry analytical portal Energyprom.kz. According to analysts, the production of fresh, chilled or frozen fish amounted to 29.1 thousand tons, an annual decrease of 19%. Another 2 tons of produced products were crustaceans and mollusks, the volume of which did not change over the year. In regional terms, canned fish and caviar were mainly produced in the Turkestan, West Kazakhstan and Aktobe regions, fresh and frozen fish - in the Atyrau, Turkestan and East Kazakhstan regions, and crustaceans and mollusks - only in the Pavlodar region. At the same time, the fishing industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan is completely unable to cope with the needs of the market. Thus, according to the results of January-July of ...