Kazakhstan and China: deals, trade and rates

Kazakh companies signed agreements worth about $100 million on 5 November, the first day of the 9th China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Trade and Integration said. About 40 producers are in the national pavilion, showing vegetable oils, flour, confectionery, dairy products and drinks. The expo runs until 10 November.

The trade minister, Arman Shakkaliyev, led the delegation. The same report puts trade between the two countries at $43.3 billion in the first nine months of 2026, up 21.9% on a year earlier, after $48.7 billion in the whole of 2025.

KazMunayGas and KMG PetroChem agreed a 15-year credit line of up to 2.89 billion yuan (about $400 million) with China Development Bank, as reported on 2 November. The loan is backed by a corporate guarantee from Samruk-Kazyna, the state fund that controls KazMunayGas.

The money finances the construction contract for two pipelines in the Atyrau region, each about 210 km long, from the Tengiz gas separation complex to Karabatan. The ethane line, 1.6 million tonnes a year, will feed a polyethylene plant that is under construction; the propane line, 1.1 million tonnes a year, will feed the existing polypropylene plant. The contract was signed in November 2025 with a consortium led by China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering.

Air Astana and China Southern Airlines signed a joint venture agreement on 30 October, building on a codeshare deal they already had. Under the agreement the two airlines will coordinate flight schedules, expand codeshare services and run joint marketing.

Kazakhstan's deputy transport minister, Talgat Lastaev, said at the signing that flights between the two countries were up 52% on 2025, to 117 scheduled flights a week on 21 routes, and that more than one million passengers had flown between them since the start of 2026.

The National Bank of Kazakhstan reduced its base rate from 16.25% to 15.75% on 23 October. It pointed to slower inflation, which had fallen to 9.3% a year, and to lower inflation expectations. It still describes its policy as moderately tight.

The bank said a further change before the end of 2026 was unlikely, and warned that annual inflation could rise for a while at the end of the year because utility tariffs were frozen in 2025. The next decision is due on 4 December.

Kazatomprom's shareholders voted on two uranium supply contracts at an extraordinary general meeting; absentee voting ended on 7 October. A contract to sell natural uranium concentrates to China's State Nuclear Uranium Resource Development Company was approved with 88.63% of the votes cast, 6.49% against and 4.88% withheld.

A supply contract with Russia's Uranium One Group was not approved. It needed a simple majority, but 88.34% of the votes were withheld; 5.39% were in favour and 6.27% against. Holders of 99.21% of the voting shares took part.