Kazakhstan News Agency, Nur-Sultan, November 19th, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development announced that the output value of Kazakhstan’s light industry reached 87.5 billion tenge from January to October 2019. (approximately US$225 million), an increase of 18.9% compared with the same period last year, of which the textile industry production increased by 23.7% year-on-year, and the clothing industry increased by 7.5%.
At present, light industry has become one of the priority development directions that the Kazakhstan government attaches great importance to. Kazakhstan’s light industry mainly includes three major sub-industries: textiles accounting for 52%, clothing 38%, and leather and its products 10%. As of early September 2019, there were 1,030 light industry enterprises in Kazakhstan, employing about 11,000 people, mainly producing clothing, footwear, cotton yarn, fabrics, carpets, leather, etc.
The Kazakhstan government has introduced a series of support measures to support the development of light industry, including promoting product exports, improving labor productivity, promoting domestic products in the domestic market, and promoting the implementation of the “2020 Business Development Roadmap. In accordance with the instructions of Kazakh President Tokayev to develop a “simple goods economy” in his State of the Union Address, the government has passed an order requiring special loans with an interest rate of 6% for light industry enterprises. So far, the Bank of Kazakhstan has provided loans totaling 4.3 billion tenge for 21 projects. The Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of Kazakhstan is formulating the “2019-2021 Light Industry Development Roadmap” and proposes 52 support measures including ensuring the supply of raw materials, combating illegal circulation, and improving local content.
