Turkish industrial group Cengiz Holding plans to invest $500 million to build two sugar processing plants in Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Agriculture announced after Agriculture Minister Aidarbek Saparov met with Cengiz Holding board member Jengiz Shaban.
The two proposed factories will have a combined annual sugar production capacity of up to 300,000 tons. The North Kazakhstan and Pavlodar regions are being considered as possible sites for the facilities.
The investment plan spans 10 years. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2026, with production expected to start within two years of groundbreaking. Shaban said the project is designed to strengthen domestic sugar supplies while also promoting the development of by-products such as animal feed, food ingredients and industrial alcohol.
Minister Saparov called the proposal “strategically important” for the country’s food security. He said creating new processing capacity and ensuring a steady supply of raw materials are key government priorities.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Kazakhstan currently has four operating sugar plants, three of which process domestically grown sugar beets. However, the country consumes around 500,000 tons of sugar annually, and local production meets only 14% of demand.
Earlier, another Turkish group, Safi Holding, also showed interest in building a sugar processing plant in Kazakhstan.
The existing factories include Aksu-Kant in the Taldykorgan district, the Koksu Sugar Factory in the Almaty region, and the Merken and Taraz plants in the Zhambyl region. Three of these plants process local sugar beets, while the Taraz facility uses imported cane sugar. In 2024, Kazakhstan harvested 1.2 million tons of sugar beet, but only about 700,000 tons were processed, once again highlighting major inefficiencies in the sector.
