Under the chairmanship of the Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin, a meeting was held where the issue of stabilizing prices for products was discussed, as well as the preliminary results of the first quarter.

According to the Ministry of Trade and Integration, in March the average index of price growth for socially significant food products amounted to 0.3% – this is three times lower than the figure for March of last year (0.9%).

Overall for the first quarter, price growth amounted to 1.2%, which is also three times lower than the level of the same period in 2025 (3.8%). The dynamics reflect a steady slowdown in the pace of price growth.

It was noted that official statistics are formed according to the international methodology for calculating the consumer price index and cover 537 goods and services. Monitoring is carried out at more than 12 thousand trade facilities throughout the country. The domestic trade system employs about 760 thousand business entities, of which over 300 thousand are engaged in the sale of food products.

The main price reduction was recorded in vegetable products: cabbage – by 1.9%, tomatoes – by 2.6%, onions – by 10.9%, cucumbers – by 22.6%. Since the beginning of the year, cucumber prices have decreased by 31.1%.

First Deputy Minister of Trade and Integration Aizhan Bizhanova noted that the positive dynamics in saturating the market with domestic products is largely ensured by the current program of support for greenhouse farms.

By the end of 2025, the total area of greenhouses amounted to 1.33 thousand hectares, having increased by 12.6 hectares compared to 2024. The main increase was provided by farmer greenhouses – from 713.3 hectares to 799.4 hectares.

“At present, the ministry is negotiating with industrial greenhouses on concluding memorandums to stabilize prices for tomatoes and cucumbers,” Aizhan Bizhanova emphasized.

Additionally, JSC “NC KTZ” is working on the issue of providing significant discounts on railway tariffs for the transportation of all types of socially significant food products, as well as flour for the production of social bread.

Separately, the issue of the availability of vegetables from last year’s harvest and supplies of early vegetables from other countries was considered. Since the beginning of March, daily supplies of fresh vegetables from China have been organized to the domestic market of the country. Kazakhstan received 3,200 tons of potatoes, 800 tons of carrots, and 14 tons of white cabbage.

In addition, stocks of stabilization funds from last year’s harvest are actively being sold. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the remaining stabilization funds amount to about 24% of the total volume.

In the near future, a delegation of representatives from the Trade Committee of the MTI, regional SPCs, large retail chains, KTZ-Express and QazTrade will travel to the southern regions of Uzbekistan to purchase early harvest.

A significant reduction in prices was facilitated by holiday fairs during the Nauryz meiramy period – more than 200 thematic fairs were held throughout the country. As part of the Nauryz sale campaign with discounts of up to 70%, 300 trade entities took part, with coverage of more than 4 million people.

It is worth noting that since the beginning of the year, 1.5 thousand fairs have been held.

#Inflation #Serik Zhumangarin #Socially Important Food Products

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