In the first nine months of the current year, Kazakhstan imported 51.4 thousand tons of mandarins and various citrus hybrids — tangerines, satsumas, clementines, and wilkings, reports Kazpravda.kz citing Energyprom.kz
To meet the needs of Kazakhstani consumers, importers increased the volume of supplies by 37.5%, or by 14 thousand tons. The National Statistics Bureau (NSB) of the Republic of Kazakhstan has published data only for the first nine months. Data on imports in the main pre-New Year months — October, November, and December — will be available later.
“However, judging by the dynamics from January to September, it can already be assumed that by the end of 2024, the import of mandarins into Kazakhstan will exceed last year's figures. In 2023, over 107.8 thousand tons of such citrus fruits were imported into Kazakhstan,” analysts believe.
The monetary value of imports for the first ten months of the current year approached 32.8 million USD (or 17.1 billion tenge at the National Bank exchange rate on December 18, 2024). Compared to the same period last year, the country increased its “mandarin count” by 36.2%. This growth is solely due to the increase in supply volumes in physical terms. The estimated cost of a ton of imported mandarins remained at last year's level.
“If market sellers tell you they sell only the best and most expensive Moroccan mandarins, don’t believe them. The facts are that the share of mandarins imported from Morocco is negligible, accounting for only 0.3% of the total supply volume to Kazakhstan. The main supplier of such citrus fruits to our country is China, whose share in the supply of this product is 53.6%,” the authors of the publication noted.
Of the 51.4 thousand tons imported from January to September 2024, 27.5 thousand tons came from China. Pakistan took second place, with 16.4 thousand tons of mandarins supplied from this South Asian country to Kazakhstan in nine months, or 32%. Turkey also made it to the top three foreign suppliers of these fruits. However, the volume from there is significantly lower than from China and Pakistan: 4.9 thousand tons from January to September of the current year.
“By the way, Moroccan mandarins are indeed among the most expensive. To find this out, we compared the estimated cost of a ton of such citrus fruits from different countries. The top position went to products from Peru, followed by Morocco, and then Egypt. The mandarins with the lowest estimated cost were those from Pakistan and Russia,” the report states.
One of the reasons Kazakhstan has been increasing its mandarin imports since 2022 is the growing volume of consumption within the country. This can be traced through the results of sample surveys conducted quarterly by NSB specialists. The infographic shows that over the past year — from the third quarter of 2023 to the third quarter of 2024 — the consumption of these orange fruits increased every quarter.
The highest level of mandarin consumption was expectedly observed in the first and fourth quarters. For instance, from January to March of the current year, residents of Kazakhstan consumed an average of 2.1 kg of such citrus fruits per quarter (an increase of 16.6% compared to the same period in 2023). In the last quarter of the previous year, each Kazakhstani consumed an average of 1.5 kg of mandarins — 52.5% more than a year earlier.
It is worth noting that residents of Kazakhstan are regularly increasing their spending on fruits. In the third quarter of the current year, the average fruit basket cost each Kazakhstani 12.5 thousand tenge (an increase of 5.8% compared to the same period in 2023). The increase in expenses is linked to two factors — the rise in per capita fruit consumption and consumer inflation.
This year, the highest consumer price indices for fruits were observed at the beginning of the year: in January, February, and March, prices for these vitamin-rich products were 17% higher than in the first months of 2023. The price increase continued through spring and summer and began to slow down by autumn. In September, fruit prices rose by 6.7%, in October — by 4.3%, and in November — by 4.7% year-on-year.