Minister Sultanov explains export volume decline in 2019
According to him, in January-November 2019, the volume of exports was $52bn that is 4.9% lower against the same period in 2018. The decline was caused by three major factors. The first one is oil prices decline by 9.8% compared to 2018, which reduced the cost by $3bn. Physical volume of crude oil export rose by 0.7%. The second reason is reduction of flat-rolled products of non-alloy steel by 34.4% or by 456mn tenge. The third reason is fall of world prices for ferroalloys which reduced exports by 34.4% or by $293.9mn.
«It proves again that volatility of our export is directly linked to the world market conjuncture,» Bakhyt Sultanov noted.
In his words, the export of processing industry goods fell by 4.2% or $13.8bn. Meanwhile, the export of services in January-September 2019 increased by 5.5% and comprised $ 5.8bn, that is explained by the rise in transport services and business trips.
«Unfortunately, only 400 Kazakhstani companies regularly export their products abroad. The share of export of Kazakhstan’s non-primary goods in the global trade chain remains low. In western companies, this indicator reaches 5-7% of the total number of SMEs,» the Minister said.
