High margins and guaranteed domestic demand from processors have made oilseed crops a leader in the diversification of crop production in Kazakhstan. In 2026, oilseeds accounted for 22% of the crop rotation, compared with no more than 14% in 2021. Sunflower accounted for the largest increase in oilseed acreage, rising 2.3-fold over the past five years. At the same time, grain and feed crops have shown the opposite trend, with their shares of the crop rotation falling over the past five years from 69% to 61% and from 14% to 12%, respectively.
Kazakhstan’s oilseed processors are actively expanding processing and exports, setting records, but the country’s entire agricultural sector faces major challenges this season.
Experts are already saying that the record expansion in sunflower acreage will not result in a record crop in the new season. Weather conditions are prompting a downward revision in expectations for the overall oilseed harvest, which will intensify competition among processors for raw materials.
At the same time, the geopolitical reshaping of trade flows is creating additional competition for Kazakhstan in export markets, bringing uncertainty and price volatility across the entire range of agricultural commodities, including processed products.
Andrey Antonov, Executive Director for Strategic Development at the National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA), will speak about the prospects for Kazakhstan’s oilseed market in the 2026/27 season at the VI International Asia Grains&Oils Conference in Tashkent 2026.
NOPA brings together 52 oilseed processing plants, which process more than 90% of the country’s oilseeds and are the main suppliers of vegetable oil and fat products to domestic and international markets.
Join us to discuss the industry’s challenges and ways to address them at the Asia Grains&Oils Conference in Tashkent 2026. And the choice of venue is no coincidence: Uzbekistan is one of the importers of Kazakhstan’s vegetable oil and fat products.
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