Kazakhstan halts apple imports to 31 December as the 2025 harvest falls to 205,200 tonnes

Kazakhstan's Ministry of Agriculture has suspended apple imports until the end of the year, a protective measure introduced at the height of the domestic selling season. The temporary ban took effect on 3 September and runs to 31 December 2026 inclusive, DKNews.kz reported. The stated purpose is to shield local growers from price pressure while the Kazakh crop reaches the market.

The order prohibits imports of apples under commodity subheading 0808 10 from third countries and from member states of the Eurasian Economic Union, and applies to all modes of transport. Exceptions remain for transit cargo, consignments dispatched before the ban entered into force, and apples already physically brought into Kazakhstan. Those conditions are set out in an official clarification issued by the state revenue authorities.

Domestic output down 9.2% in 2025

The restriction comes as Kazakh apple production contracts. The 2025 gross harvest reached 205,200 tonnes, down 9.2% year on year and 20.8% below the 2020 level. Average yield slipped 2.7% to 83.9 centners per hectare.

Planted area is shrinking faster than yield. Apple orchards covered 36,000 hectares in 2021 and 20,600 hectares now, with preliminary data showing a 21.1% decline in 2026 alone. Kazakhstan is losing hectares and output per hectare at the same time.

The structure of production has shifted as well:

• Turkestan region, not Almaty region, is now the country's main apple producer, accounting for more than 42% of the harvest, or 86,400 tonnes.
• Output in Almaty region fell 16.7% year on year.
• Agricultural enterprises cut their apple harvest by 44.9% to 30,600 tonnes.
• Peasant and farm holdings raised output by 3.5% to 125,300 tonnes and now supply more than 60% of the crop.
• Household plots added 0.5%.

Poland accounted for 60.9% of apple imports

Trade data point to persistent import dependence. In 2025 Kazakhstan exported 20,700 tonnes of apples while importing 94,400 tonnes. Even if the entire exported volume had stayed at home, the domestic harvest alone would have fallen well short of the combined volume of own production and actual imports.

Dependence deepened immediately before the ban. Kazakhstan imported 77,800 tonnes of apples in January-July 2026, 40.1% more than in the same period a year earlier, according to foreign trade tables published by the Bureau of National Statistics. Poland supplied 47,400 tonnes of that total, an increase of 82.3%, giving it a 60.9% share of all Kazakh apple imports. Shipments from China rose 39.9%, while imports from Iran fell 48.1% and those from Uzbekistan 24.9%. The border therefore closed at a moment when a single supplier covered more than half of foreign apple supply.

Storage capacity shapes the price curve

Prices follow a clear seasonal pattern that explains why autumn sales matter to growers. For last year's crop the lowest monthly average was 751 tenge per kilogram in October; the price then climbed from January and peaked at 838 tenge in May. Longer storage is potentially profitable, but specialised capacity is scarce and losses in store are significant, leaving farms to choose between selling cheaply in autumn and carrying the cost and risk of holding fruit into spring.

Apple price growth has so far been moderate. In January-August 2026 apples cost 4.5% more than a year earlier, against 28.9% growth in 2020 and annual rates of roughly 10-12% in 2022-2025.

The ban addresses the selling season rather than the underlying trend. Output has fallen by about a fifth in five years, orchard area continues to contract, and the country still needed 77,800 tonnes of imported apples in the first seven months of 2026. The key test for the market will come closer to winter, when domestic stocks thin out and the restriction is due to expire on 31 December.