Phoenix 24
From wheat processing to robotics, Astana wants more than raw exports.
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is trying to transform its economic relationship with China from a model based largely on raw materials into one centered on manufacturing, technology and higher-value exports. The strategy was showcased at the Kazakhstan-China Investment Forum in Almaty, where hundreds of companies from both countries participated and nearly 40 commercial documents were produced. Bilateral trade reached a record €42.7 billion last year, while Chinese foreign direct investment in Kazakhstan rose to a historic €2.4 billion. The objective is no longer simply to attract capital, but to convert that capital into industrial ecosystems capable of serving markets across Eurasia and Europe.
Agriculture offers one of the clearest examples. Chinese group Dalian Hesheng Holdings is developing a deep-processing wheat complex in northern Kazakhstan with an initial investment of about €570 million. The project is designed to transform low-margin grain into products such as glutamic acid, gluten and other biofermentation outputs worth several times more before export. Initial processing capacity is expected to reach one million tons of wheat annually, with the possibility of expanding to three million tons. The logic is straightforward: export less raw value and retain more industrial value inside Kazakhstan.
Logistics makes that strategy possible. As the world’s largest landlocked country, Kazakhstan depends heavily on efficient overland corridors, particularly the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, also known as the Middle Corridor. This route links China with Europe through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye. Higher-value goods make transport costs easier to absorb, improving the economics of exports from a country without direct access to the sea. Kazakhstan expects container traffic along the corridor to rise sharply by the end of the decade.
The industrial ambition also extends into robotics. Kazakhstan’s Nero Group and China’s Ubtech Robotics are working to localize production in Almaty, beginning with educational robotics kits and expanding toward service and humanoid robots from 2027. The project could eventually serve markets in Central Asia, Eurasia and potentially Europe. That shift matters because it moves Kazakhstan from being merely a transit zone between China and the West toward becoming a manufacturing node inside the same network.
The automotive sector is following a similar trajectory. Kazakh companies are assembling Chinese vehicles domestically while also distributing Chinese brands in European markets. This creates a hybrid model in which Chinese technology, Kazakh industrial capacity and Eurasian logistics reinforce one another. It also shows how Beijing’s economic presence in Central Asia is becoming more sophisticated than simple infrastructure financing.
Kazakhstan’s challenge will be ensuring that localization produces genuine technological capability rather than dependency on imported components. If Astana succeeds, Chinese investment could help it climb the value chain while strengthening its role in the Middle Corridor. If not, the country risks remaining a logistical platform with limited control over higher-margin technologies.
The strategic goal is clear: Kazakhstan no longer wants to be only the place where wheat, oil or minerals originate. It wants to become the place where more of that value is created before it leaves.
Industrial power begins when raw materials stop leaving unchanged.