That dollar amount results from a 73.8% acceleration from $46.9 billion five years earlier during 2020.
Year over year, the overall value of Kazakhstani exports slowed to a 3.7% gain compared to $78.7 billion starting in 2023.
Kazakhstan is the world’s largest landlocked country. A Central Asian nation, Kazakhstan shares its southern border with Russia.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2024, Kazakhstan uses the Kazakhstani tenge which depreciated by -4.6% against the US dollar since 2020 but appreciated by 1.5% from 2023 to 2024. The weaker Kazakhstani currency compared to 2020 made Kazakhstan’s exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively lesser expensive for international buyers starting from American currency.
The top 3 most valuable exports from Kazakhstan are crude oil, radioactive chemical elements and refined copper plus unwrought alloys. Add together, that trio of major Kazakhstani products approached two-thirds (63.2%) of the Central Asian country’s overall export sales in 2024.
Kazakhstan’s Most Valuable Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 83.8% of products exported from Kazakhstan was bought by importers in: Italy (22.9% of the Kazakhstani total), mainland China (18.3%), Russia (11.7%), Netherlands (6.5%), France (4.5%), Türkiye (4.1%), Uzbekistan (3.47%), Romania (3.42%), Greece (3.38%), United States of America (2.4%), Spain (1.7%) and Kyrgyzstan (1.5%).
From a continental perspective, 60.8% of Kazakhstan exports by value was delivered to European countries while 35.6% was sold to importers also based in Asia. Kazakhstan shipped another 2.7% worth of goods to customers in North America.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in Africa (0.5%), Latin America (0.3%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.02%) mostly Australia.
Given Kazakhstan’s population of 20.1 million people, its total $81.6 billion in 2024 exports translates to roughly $4,060 for every resident in the Central Asian republic. That dollar metric outpaces the average $3,960 per capita one year earlier during 2023.
Kazakhstan’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Kazakhstani global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Kazakhstan.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$46.3 billion (56.7% of total exports)
- Inorganic chemicals: $5.5 billion (6.7%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $4.9 billion (6%)
- Iron, steel: $4.4 billion (5.4%)
- Copper: $4.2 billion (5.2%)
- Machinery including computers: $1.8 billion (2.2%)
- Cereals: $1.5 billion (1.8%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $1.3 billion (1.6%)
- Gems, precious metals: $1.1 billion (1.3%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: $942.5 million (1.2%)
Kazakhstan’s top 10 exports accounted for 88.1% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Aircraft and spacecraft was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 426.6% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales was Kazakhstani copper via a 30.4% advance.
Kazakhstan’s shipments of inorganic chemicals posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 26.2%.
The leading decliner among Kazakhstan’s top 10 export categories was the cereals group, down by -32.6% year over year led by lower revenues for exported wheat.
The above listed exports are at the two-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
Drilling down to the more detailed four-digit HTS codes, Kazakhstan’s most valuable export product is crude oil (52.5% of the country’s total). In second place was Kazakhstan’s exported radioactive chemical elements (5.6%), refined copper plus unwrought alloys (5.1%), copper ores and concentrates (3.9%), iron ferroalloys (3%), petroleum gases (2.1%), wheat (1.4%), aircraft and spacecraft (1.1%), processed petroleum oils (1%) then iron ores and concentrates (also 1%).
Products Generating Kazakhstan’s Largest Trade Surpluses
Overall, Kazakhstan achieved a US$21.8 billion trade surplus for 2024 expanding by 24.2% compared to $17.6 billion in black ink one year earlier.
The following types of Kazakhstani product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Machinery including computers: -US$7.7 billion (Down by -1.3% since 2023)
- Vehicles: -$6.1 billion (Down by -15.4%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$4.1 billion (Down by -12.4%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$2.3 billion (Up by 19.6%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$2.1 billion (Down by -11.3%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$1.7 billion (Down by -1.7%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$1.3 billion (Down by -8.3%)
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: -$1.1 billion (Down by -31.3%)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): -$968.1 million (Down by -43.9%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: -$913.4 million (Down by -6.7%)
Kazakhstan has highly positive net exports in the international trade of mineral fuels, historically crude oil and petroleum gases. In turn, these cashflows indicate Kazakhstan’s strong competitive advantages under the mineral fuels including oil product category.
Products Causing Kazakhstan’s Worst Trade Deficits
Below are exports from Kazakhstan that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Kazakhstan’s goods trail Kazakhstani importer spending on foreign products.
- Machinery including computers: -US$7.8 billion (Up by 17.9% since 2023)
- Vehicles: -$7.2 billion (Up by 65%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$4.7 billion (Up by 47.1%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$2.3 billion (Up by 24.7%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$1.9 billion (Up by 6.7%)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): -$1.73 billion (Up by 115.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$1.72 billion (Down by -7.5%)
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: -$1.6 billion (Up by 94.7%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$1.4 billion (Up by 28.2%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: -$979.3 million (Up by 19.8%)
Kazakhstan has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for machinery-related products, notably taps and valves, air or vacuum pumps, and computers.
Kazakhstani Export Companies
According to Forbes Global 2000 rankings, the following companies are examples of leading Kazakhstani companies.
- Bta Bank (Regional bank)
- Halyk Bank (Regional bank)
- KazMunaiGas Exploration (Oil and gas operations)
Wikipedia also lists exporters from Kazakhstan. Selected examples are shown below:
- Bogatyr Access Komir (Coal mining)
- KazakhGold (Gold mining)
- Kazatomprom (Uranium, rare earth metals)
- KazTransOil (Oil transportation)
In macroeconomic terms, Kazakhstan’s total exported goods represent 12% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($656.7 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 12% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to 12.6% one year earlier. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Kazakhstan’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Kazakhstan’s unemployment rate averaged 4.775% for 2024, declining from an average 4.875% one year earlier in 2023 according to the International Monetary Fund statistics.
Astana is Kazakhstan’s capital city.
See also China’s Top Trading Partners, Italy’s Top Trading Partners, Russia’s Top Trading Partners, Netherlands Top Trading Partners, Turkey’s Top Trading Partners and xxx’s Top Trading Partners
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, Country Profiles, The World Factbook. Accessed on September 17, 2025
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on September 17, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on September 17, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on September 17, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 17, 2025
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on September 17, 2025
Wikipedia, Kazakhstan. Accessed on September 17, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Kazakhstan. Accessed on September 17, 2025
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on September 17, 2025