During a working visit to Moscow, Kazakhstan’s Agriculture Minister Aidarbek Saparov met with his Iranian counterpart, Gholamreza Nouri Ghezeljeh.
The discussions also involved leaders of major Iranian companies, The Caspian Post reports, citing Kazakh media.
The talks highlighted the significant growth in trade between Kazakhstan and Iran, with trade turnover nearly doubling since 2023, underscoring the expanding economic partnership between the two countries.
The meeting discussed prospects for expanding trade, deepening cooperation, and implementing joint projects in the agro-industrial sector.
Kazakh Minister Saparov noted that thanks to productive cooperation with the Iranian side, it was possible to achieve significant growth after a decline in trade turnover in 2023.
In 2023, the trade turnover fell to 165.2 million US dollars, wheat supplies decreased more than eightfold, and barley exports halved. But in 2024, the situation improved considerably, with the trade volume reaching 220 million US dollars, and barley exports increasing threefold.
The positive trend strengthened in 2025. Over nine months, the trade turnover amounted to 249.1 million US dollars - nearly double the level of the same period last year. Barley exports increased 4.6 times, and wheat supplies also grew.
Mutual trade in agricultural products between our countries shows stable growth. We aim to expand trade and economic ties with Iran and implement new joint projects. The potential for further growth in the agricultural sector is enormous, and we are ready to increase trade turnover, said Saparov.
Iran remains one of the key markets for Kazakh grain. During the marketing year (September 2024-August 2025), more than 1 million tons of grain were supplied to Iran, compared to only 86,000 tons the previous year. Over the first nine months of the current year, the export reached 855,200 tons worth 169.7 million US dollars.
A significant contribution to the increase in grain transshipment was made by the Amirabad Grain Terminal Kish in the port of Amirabad. In the first 10 months of 2025, it handled 161,000 tons of barley and wheat.
Particular attention during the meeting was paid to expanding sunflower oil exports. In 2024, 5.9 thousand tons were shipped to Iran, while Kazakhstani processors are ready to increase volumes to 500 thousand tons per year. Construction of vegetable oils loading terminals at the ports of Kuryk and Aktau will become an important step, helping increase throughput capacity and optimize logistics.
The sides also discussed the development of investment partnership. Joint ventures Empire Food and Kaz-Ir Agro are already operating successfully in Kazakhstan. Negotiations continue with Solico Group on constructing a processing complex for cheese production in Almaty region with a capacity of up to 200 thousand tons per year, as well as projects for potato processing and baby food production.
Kourosh Food Industry expressed interest in establishing enterprises for processing oilseeds, developing poultry farming, and building logistics facilities.
For his part, Gholamreza Nouri Ghezeljeh confirmed Iran’s readiness to expand cooperation.
Iran currently imports more than 25 million tons of crop and livestock products. We are interested in doubling trade turnover with Kazakhstan. We also propose using Iran as a transit platform for third countries and are ready to create all the necessary conditions for this, he said.
Following the meeting, both sides reaffirmed their intention to continue active partnership and develop long-term cooperation in the agro-industrial sector. All promising areas of collaboration will be carefully reviewed within the Kazakhstan-Iran Working Group on Agricultural Cooperation.
