Kazakhstan's iron and steel exports fluctuated in 2023

In January-November 2023, Kazakhstan's exports of metallurgical products fell by 9.4% to USD 12.4 billion.

In 2023, the most exported product of Kazakhstan was iron ore. With 6 million tonnes of exports, China became the largest market for iron ore. Compared to 2022, iron ore exports increased by 20 per cent.

In the first 8 months of 2023, Kazakhstan earned USD 1.23 billion and exported 1.9 million tonnes of steel products, 34% less than in the same period of 2022. Russia remains the main importer of Kazakh steel, accounting for 55% of total exports (1 million tonnes) for USD 692.1 million. Also, Uzbekistan 631.8 thousand tonnes ($367.5 million) and Tajikistan 100 thousand tonnes ($59.5 million) were among the leaders in Kazakh raw material exports.

Kazakhstan's ferroalloy exports in 2023 decreased by 6.5% year-on-year to 1,522,364 tonnes. Exports of rolled flat products increased by 61.9% to 1,962,676 tonnes. Kazakhstan's exports of steel bars increased by 27.0% compared to 2022 to 293,680 tonnes.

Kazakhstan exported 73.2% of ferroalloys, 65.4% of rolled flat products and 16.4% of steel rods produced in Kazakhstan, while the rest was sold on the domestic market.

Ferrous exports fell by 21.8 per cent, while non-ferrous metallurgy exports fell by 8.4 per cent. Despite the decline in exports, imports of metallurgical products increased by 2.6% to $3.4 billion.

The majority of total metallurgical exports were copper (24.7 per cent), ferroalloys (18.1 per cent) and flat-rolled products (10.5 per cent).