ALMATY/DEC. 10 2019 (The Bulletin) –Tyson Fresh Meats, a subsidy of the US food giant Tyson Foods, signed a deal with the Kazakh government and the privately-owned Kazakh industrial conglomerate Kusto to build a production facility in the north of the country.

Neither side released financial information on the deal but media reported that the plant should be able to process up to 2,000 heads of cattle per day. By comparison, Tyson’s facilities in the US process around 20,000 heads of cattle per day.

Steve Stouffer, group president of Tyson Fresh Meats, was quoted as saying: “This opportunity supports one of our growth strategies to expand Tyson’s global business, and we look forward to bringing our expertise and capabilities to the country of Kazakhstan.”

Bordering China, Kazakhstan is also geographically important to Tyson’s Asia development plans. China has imposed a 47% tariff on beef imports from the US, part of the two countries protracted trade war. Beef produced in Kazakhstan will not be subject to this tariff.

Kazakhstan has been positioning itself increasingly as a place for cattle farmers to do business. Ranchers from the US have imported livestock to Kazakhstan and corporations have spent millions on improving facilities and promoting beef as a part of the Kazakh diet.

But the deal with Tyson, one of the biggest meat producers in the world, marks a major moment for Kazakhstan’s meat production sector.

Kazakh PM Askar Mamin said: “Tyson is a world-class company with the expertise necessary to help Kazakhstan jump-start the transformation of our agro-protein capabilities and help us create an ecosystem that will increase our beef herd size and establish conditions to support thousands of new high-quality jobs in the country.”
ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 432 of the weekly Bulletin on Dec. 27 2019

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