The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Kazakhstan has reached an agreement to import metallurgical raw materials from Afghanistan as part of efforts to ensure a stable supply for its domestic metal processing industry, Qazinform News Agency reported.
According to the report, Kazakhstan's Minister of Industry
and Construction, Yersaiyn Nagaspayev, announced during a government meeting on
Tuesday that agreements had been finalized to import raw materials from Afghanistan
and Kyrgyzstan for the country's metallurgical plants.
Nagaspayev said Kazakhstan's metallurgical industry operated
at 97.3% of planned output during the first half of 2026, with earlier declines
attributed to scheduled maintenance at industrial facilities and the gradual
depletion of domestic mineral resources.
He said the sector's performance improved by 1.8% compared
with the first five months of the year, citing increased domestic supplies of
copper-, zinc-, and gold-bearing raw materials, the resumption of zinc
concentrate deliveries, and new import agreements with Afghanistan and
Kyrgyzstan.
According to Qazinform, the minister also said Kazakhstan's
manufacturing sector expanded by 9.8% during the first half of 2026, driven by
the launch of new production facilities and growth across several industrial
sectors.
Nagaspayev said Kazakhstan has commissioned 74 investment
projects worth 252 billion tenge, creating more than 4,300 permanent jobs, and
plans to complete 200 investment projects valued at 1.7 trillion tenge by the
end of the year.
