Kazakhstan's foreign trade turnover reached $56.3 billion in January–May 2026, up 4.3% from the same period last year. China was the largest buyer of Kazakh products, while Russia remained the main supplier, according to infohub.kz.
Exports totaled $30.36 billion in the first five months, a 1.6% increase year-on-year. Imports grew more sharply, by 7.7%, to $25.99 billion. Despite faster import growth, Kazakhstan maintained a positive trade balance.
Trade with Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries reached $12.47 billion, up 11.2% year-on-year. Exports to the EAEU fell 7.1% to $3.55 billion, while imports rose 20.6% to $8.92 billion. Russia accounted for 87.3% of intra-union trade, followed by Kyrgyzstan (8.2%), Belarus (4.1%), and Armenia (0.3%).
Commodities still dominate Kazakhstan's exports: crude oil and petroleum products (44.6%), refined copper and unprocessed copper alloys (7.6%), copper ores and concentrates (5.9%), ferroalloys (3%), and wheat and meslin (2.8%).
Top imports include passenger cars and other motor vehicles (3.1%), telephone sets (2.7%), medicaments (2.5%), petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons (2.5%), and electric generating sets and rotary converters (2.4%).
China remains the largest export market, taking 19.9% of total exports, followed by Italy (16.4%), Russia (8.8%), Turkey (7.6%), the Netherlands (6.3%), and Uzbekistan (5.8%). Russia is the top import supplier, providing 31.6% of all imports, ahead of China (28.8%), Germany (4.9%), the United States (4.4%), South Korea (2.5%), and Turkey (2.2%).
Earlier, Kazakhstan announced it would extend quotas on beef exports. Economist Ruslan Sultanov said Kazakhstan is becoming more trade-dependent on China and Russia.