Officials pictured at the construction site of Kazakhstan's new aquafeed plant.
Photo: Government of Kazakhstan, Ministry of Agriculture
Construction has begun on what the Kazakhstan government says will be the country’s first plant producing extruded aquafeed for commercially valuable fish species.
The facility, which is being developed with support from Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Agriculture, will have an annual production capacity of 25,000 tonnes.
In an official announcement published on its website, the Kazakhstan government said the project aims to reduce the aquaculture sector’s reliance on imported high-protein feeds and support further growth in domestic fish production.
Kazakhstan’s fish farms require about 72,000 tonnes of feed each year. Although domestic producers meet most of that demand, the country continues to import specialised high-protein products. The shortage is particularly significant for feeds used in trout and sturgeon production, which the ministry said had not previously been manufactured in Kazakhstan.
Official figures show that aquaculture production in the country reached approximately 23,000 tonnes in 2025, including about 4,000 tonnes of trout. The government said it expects farmed fish output to rise to 64,700 tonnes in 2026, with the expansion of producers such as Poseidon LLP increasing demand for specialised feeds.
Aquaculture has received growing financial support from the Kazakhstan government in recent years. State assistance for fish farms reached about USD 10.1 million in 2026, according to figures reported by the Times of Central Asia, while the number of registered fish farms has doubled since 2021 to 684.
As previously reported by WeAreAquaculture, the volume of Kazakhstan's fish products market reached 85,500 tonnes in the first 11 months of 2025, representing a 22% year-on-year increase. In January, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Amangali Berdalin reported that fish catches from natural water bodies totalled 38,500 tonnes, while aquaculture enterprises delivered 20,900 tonnes, reflecting increases of 10% and 15%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
