The stand showcased sunflower, soybean, rapeseed, flaxseed, cottonseed and safflower oils, alongside high-protein feed products, including meals and oilcakes. European buyers showed particular interest in sunflower husk pellets, a by-product of oilseed processing used as a renewable fuel.
European countries are already buyers of Kazakhstan’s oil and fat products. Kazakhstan ranks among the top three suppliers of sunflower meal to the EU. According to NOPA, exports of vegetable oils, meals and oilcakes to the EU and Norway have consistently exceeded 100,000 tonnes annually over the past four marketing years, twice the volumes recorded in previous years. In the 2025/26 marketing year, shipments totalled 114,927 tonnes.
Shipments of sunflower husk pellets are also growing. According to the Association, Kazakhstan’s exports to the EU increased from 1,135 tonnes in 2023 to 33,418 tonnes in 2025—an almost thirtyfold increase. The value of these shipments reached approximately US$1.04 million in 2025.
The national stand was visited by Gulsara Arystankulova, Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to France. Her visit highlights the importance of the European Union market to Kazakhstan and the government’s attention to promoting domestic oil and fat products in this market. Representatives of NOPA and the Embassy discussed prospects for cooperation with EU countries in the oil and fat sector.
Participation in SIAL Paris 2026 forms part of the implementation of the Roadmap for the Development of Oil and Fat Product Exports for 2026–2028. The document was developed by NOPA jointly with the International Trade Centre (ITC), with organisational support from QazTrade JSC, under the EU-funded project “Ready4Trade Central Asia: Fostering Prosperity Through the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor”.
The Roadmap aims to increase the sector’s annual export earnings to US$1.5 billion by 2028 and position Kazakhstan among the world’s four largest exporters of sunflower oil
