Kazakhstan's cheese and cottage cheese output rises 13% to 54,500 tonnes

Dairy processors in Kazakhstan produced 54,500 tonnes of cheese and cottage cheese, a 13% increase, according to industry figures presented at the Cheese Open event in Aktau and reported by dairynews.today. The result was published as the sector deals with falling raw milk purchase prices, rising imports of milk powder and a growing distance between the regions that produce milk and those that consume dairy products.

Modernisation and a wider semi-hard range

A representative of the Kizelmann group of companies said at the event that growth in the segment is supported by the modernisation of cheesemaking plants and an expanded assortment of semi-hard cheeses, dairynews.today reported. Both factors point to capital spending already made at existing sites rather than to a wave of greenfield capacity.

The presentation also listed the main consumer trends in the cheese category: rising interest in local artisanal cheeses, demand for pre-sliced products and snack portions, and the development of functional items. The functional group includes reduced-fat cheeses, products with higher protein content, and cheeses with herbs and spices. According to the presentation, the shift in consumption patterns gives producers room to widen their ranges and move into higher value-added output — the part of the portfolio where margin, rather than volume, decides profitability.

Production moves north, demand stays south

The southern regions of Kazakhstan remain a major centre of dairy consumption, with about half of the country's population living there, dairynews.today reported from the event. A significant share of the production increase, however, is concentrated in the north of the country. That mismatch raises the importance of logistics, cooperation between plants and the creation of processing capacity closer to sales markets, since every additional tonne of cheese made in the north carries domestic freight costs before it reaches its main buyers.

Raw milk economics under pressure

Industry participants quoted by dairynews.today gave conflicting readings of the raw milk balance. One view is that the biggest problem building up is the gap between farm growth and processing capability: farms are expanding quickly, plants more slowly, and at some point processors will not be able to take all the milk, creating a temptation to cut purchase prices, hurting margins and lengthening project payback periods. Another assessment describes current processing plants as underloaded and calls for continued growth in livestock numbers, a halt to illegal exports of animals and continued subsidies for breeding stock.

• Milk processing plants have cut raw milk purchase prices from 250 to 160 tenge.
• In the Pavlodar and East Kazakhstan regions, plants stopped buying milk altogether during the summer.
• Milk powder bought at 1,000 tenge per kilogram works out at 120 tenge per litre of milk equivalent.
• Imports of milk powder from Russia have grown sixfold over five years.

Producers cited by the publication also point to dumping by Russian and Belarusian competitors and ask retail chains and the state to give domestic products equal shelf presence with imports. A separate constraint concerns herd building: the Kazakh regulator's ban on cattle imports from Hungary removes the land route for breeding stock from the European Union transiting Russia, forcing farms onto air delivery and raising the cost of imported young animals.

New capacity and export ambitions

One market participant cited by dairynews.today described plans for a milk processing plant with capacity of 300 tonnes of milk per day, oriented towards cheese output of 60 to 100 tonnes per month. Few plants in the country process more than 300 tonnes, and the project would require the operator to secure its own raw material base to fill it.

Longer term, the industry discussion at the event centred on deep processing and exports. Protein processing was named as a potential route to profitability, given demand from sports nutrition, cosmetics and infant food. Central Asia's relatively low costs in crop farming and feed production were cited as an advantage for scaling dairy output, with neighbouring China identified as a destination with high demand. Participants also argued for joint promotion through a single technological hub to cut market-entry costs, and pointed to national products such as kurt, katyk and ayran, still made largely on a craft scale, as an untapped industrial opportunity.