Kazakhstan’s shift toward best available techniques (BAT) has sparked a public dispute involving one of the country’s most successful agricultural sectors — vegetable oil production. Industry representatives argue that the proposed emissions limits are not only stricter than those in Europe but could also push up prices and force some plants to shut down. The regulator disagrees, insisting that the rules will affect only four companies and come with a ten-year transition period. We examined both sides of the debate, drawing on information from the National Oilseed Processors Association and three reports published by Kazakh media outlets Naryk.kz, tiek.kz and Tizgin.kz, which included comments from both the industry and the Ministry of Ecology.
The requirements
The BAT reference document for the oils and fats industry is being developed by the International Green Technologies and Investment Projects Center under Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. It sets emissions limits for Category I facilities, which are also required to obtain integrated environmental permits.
According to the Association, the proposed limits for nitrogen oxides (NOₓ) are three times stricter than those in the European Union and 2.5 times stricter than in the United Kingdom, where, by comparison, CO and SO₂ emissions are not regulated at all but merely monitored. The requirements imposed on oilseed processing plants are also tougher than those applied to coal-fired power stations, among the country’s largest sources of air pollution: the SO₂ limit is 15 times stricter and the NOₓ limit twice as strict. The proposed standard for organic dust at oilseed processing plants is ten times more stringent than the one applied to the metals industry, even though, as industry representatives point out, agricultural raw materials arriving from farms are not inherently hazardous.
“Cooking oil prices will rise by 30%”
Yadykar Ibragimov, chairman of the National Oilseed Processors Association, told Tizgin.kz that if the requirements take effect, vegetable oil prices could rise by 30%, while some plants may be forced to close. He said the Association has had a memorandum with the Ministry of Trade and Integration and the Ministry of Agriculture for four years aimed at stabilising sunflower oil prices. The new standards could derail that agreement, as producers would be unable to hold prices down in the face of such a sharp increase in costs.
Ibragimov also warns that the impact would extend beyond processing plants to farmers. If factories cannot comply with the new requirements, agricultural producers could be left with nowhere to sell their crops. Poultry and livestock farming could also be affected, since oilseed plants produce high-protein animal feed, including meal and oilcake. The knock-on effect could eventually reach the prices of meat, milk and eggs.
According to Naryk.kz and Tizgin.kz, Nikolai Ushakov, chief executive of the Semey-based Qazaq-Astyq Group, argues that it is wrong to compare food producers with power stations and oil companies. Plants in the industry already use biofuel in the form of sunflower husks. He says the new requirements could put domestic producers under pressure, allowing imported oil to take their place on store shelves at the cost of local production and jobs.
tiek.kz and Tizgin.kz also offer the perspective of an ordinary agricultural producer. Alexander Lechner, a farmer from the Abai Region who has grown sunflowers on his family farm for 34 years, describes the crop as organic and considers comparisons with metal processing unjustified. Many small farms do not have their own drying facilities and depend directly on processing plants, he says. If those plants close, farmers will have nowhere to send their harvest.
The dispute over equipment costs
One of the central points of disagreement is the cost involved. Ibragimov, quoted by tiek.kz and Tizgin.kz, estimates that installing a filter on a single boiler chimney, including construction and installation work, could cost as much as KZT 1 billion.
Questions over the decision-making process
According to the Association, the technical working group that drafted the reference document did not provide equal representation for the industry. Of the group’s 21 members, oils and fats companies held only three votes, or 14%, while environmental organisations accounted for 10, or 48%. Moreover, the vote of any member who did not participate was automatically counted as approval without comment. This happened in three cases. In the final vote on July 20, 2026, 13 of the 21 members backed the standards proposed by the International Green Technologies and Investment Projects Center, while several research institutions and government agencies voted against them.
The Association notes that Article 113 of Kazakhstan’s Environmental Code requires authorities to assess not only the environmental impact of new technologies but also their economic consequences, taking into account the costs, benefits and actual availability of solutions for each facility. The industry argues that the proposed standards were based on benchmarks from developed economies without recognising that those countries took decades to reach them and had access to cheaper financing and a more advanced technological base.
Tizgin.kz reports that after failing to secure a review of the requirements through the working process, the Association appealed to the Prosecutor General’s Office, asking it to conduct an impartial examination of the situation.
The ministry’s position
The regulator’s arguments are presented in the greatest detail by tiek.kz and Tizgin.kz. tiek.kz quotes Kairat Masenov, head of the BAT Bureau at the International Green Technologies and Investment Projects Center, while Tizgin.kz publishes the Center’s direct response to an editorial inquiry. In essence, both reports set out the same official position.
First, the Center stresses that the new requirements are not its own initiative but an implementation of provisions contained in Kazakhstan’s Environmental Code.
Second, the Center says the technological benchmarks were not copied mechanically from other countries. Most Kazakh oilseed processing plants already operate imported production lines from the European Union, the United States and China that were originally designed to meet similar environmental requirements.
Third, the Ministry disputes the industry’s headline cost estimate. There is no need to replace expensive equipment in full. According to the Center, existing lines need only be fitted with baghouse filters or electrostatic precipitators capable of removing more than 99% of pollutants. It puts the cost of such a system at KZT 136 million. As an example, tiek.kz cites MAY JSC, which installed a gas-cleaning system for exactly that amount.
Fourth, the Ministry says the working group was formed in line with OECD practice as an independent expert body involving research institutes, universities and public health authorities. This structure was intended to prevent the commercial interests of individual parties from dominating the process. The Center also says the industry’s comments were reviewed repeatedly. Some editorial proposals were incorporated, while recommendations to relax the standards lacked sufficient technical justification, in the Center’s view.
Fifth, and crucially, the scale of the issue is limited. The new standards will not apply to all of Kazakhstan’s more than 80 oilseed processing plants, but only to the four largest Category I facilities. These companies will have up to ten years to modernise in stages under an environmental performance improvement programme. During its implementation, they will be exempt from environmental charges, allowing the savings to be directed toward the gradual adoption of BAT. The transition will also give companies access to preferential green financing.
What this means for the industry
The oils and fats sector remains one of the fastest-growing parts of Kazakhstan’s agricultural economy. In 2025, the country ranked sixth worldwide in sunflower oil exports, was among the three largest suppliers of sunflower meal to the European Union and fully met Central Asia’s demand for vegetable oil.
According to the Tradereport Telegram channel, Kazakhstan exported $449 million worth of sunflower oil in January-May 2026 alone. Crude oil accounted for $355 million of that figure. Its share has risen from 63% in January-May 2021 to 79% today.
The industry ultimately hopes to become one of the world’s three largest exporters. Both sides of the dispute agree that the stakes are high, whether measured in environmental safety or the competitiveness of an export-driven industry.
It remains unclear whether the Ministry’s arguments about the rules applying to only four companies and allowing a ten-year transition period will ease concerns elsewhere in the market. This is particularly true because some of the Association’s objections concern not the final deadlines but the decision-making process itself, an issue now being examined by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
We will continue to follow developments.
Sati Sultan kyzy, expert at EconomyKZ.org
