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Hong Kong-listed Jiaxin International Resources (03858), through Kazakhstan LLP Zhetisu Volframy, awarded CCECC Kazakhstan Branch the contract to expand Tailings Storage Facility No.1 at the Boguty tungsten project. The initial tax-inclusive price is about RMB256.9 million, capped at about RMB306.1 million, with a planned completion date of 22 April 2028. Boguty entered commercial production in April 2025. The works support continued mill operations and matter to mining contractors active in Kazakhstan.

Citing Energy Ministry data, Kazakhstan's government said on October 15 that the 1 bcm-a-year gas processing plant at Kashagan will start up in 2027; in July officials spoke of finishing installation by end-2026. The 2.5 bcm plant is due in 2030, with an EPC contractor approved by government resolution in June: a consortium of China National Chemical Engineering Sixth Construction's Kazakhstan branch and China Wuhuan Engineering. QazaqGaz planned to sign the FEED+EPC contract in the fourth quarter; no signing had been reported by October 15 and the value is undisclosed.

On October 12 the Almaty-based Eurasian Development Bank placed its first dim sum bond in Hong Kong: CNH 630 million (about $94 million) of three-year senior unsecured notes at a 3.9% coupon, more than 2.5 times oversubscribed and arranged entirely by Chinese banks. Proceeds will fund a border crossing and railway line on the Kazakhstan-China frontier and other Kazakh projects involving Chinese contractors, suppliers or investors. The bank did not name the crossing.

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Kazakhstan and China signed a pork protocol in October 2025, yet as of 14 October 2026 there is no GACC register of approved Kazakh plants and no shipments; GACC Announcement No. 116 covers only cattle and sheep bone products. Starting there, we map Kazakhstan's exports to China: USD 7.51bn in H1 2026 by Kazakh data, 984,000 t of Kazakh crude within 8.525m t sent via Atasu–Alashankou, 5bn cubic metres of gas in 2025, plus copper, ferroalloys, uranium, grain and sunflower oil.

Kazakhstan's Agriculture Ministry said on October 12 it aims to earn about $1.5 billion a year from oil and fat exports by 2028; earnings rose from $247 million to $1.232 billion over five seasons. Shipments to China grew more than 3.7-fold in three seasons, making Kazakhstan China's second-largest sunflower oil supplier. Over 90% of planned rail shipments via Dostyk–Alashankou now go out, against under 40% in 2023. Refining capacity is to grow 2.1 times to over 1 million tonnes, and a record oilseed crop above 5 million tonnes is expected. The $1.5 billion is a target, not an outcome.

Preliminary figures from the Kazakhstan Automotive Union show 146,541 vehicles produced in January–September 2026, up 34.2% year on year. Chinese marques gained ground: Changan (15,148) and Chery (12,593) ranked among the five largest brands, both assembled at Astana Motors' plant in Almaty. For Chinese parts makers and logistics firms, the numbers suggest local assembly has reached a scale where in-country supply starts to matter.

On 13 October Kazakhstan's government reviewed nine-month results: GDP grew 4.2% despite an 8.3% fall in oil output. Non-resource sectors expanded by an estimated 5.4%, construction by 11.5% and manufacturing by 8.6%. Fixed investment reached KZT 16.1 trillion (+7%), with private investment up 18.2% and manufacturing investment up 40.1%. Of 200 projects planned for the year, 106 have been commissioned, a sign of continued room for Chinese industrial partners.

National Bank First Deputy Governor Yerulan Zhamaubayev told the government on 13 October that the tenge strengthened 13.7% against the dollar in the first nine months of 2026, to 440.5. He cited foreign-currency inflows on high oil and export prices, monetary conditions, and non-resident buying of government bonds, whose holdings rose KZT 786 billion this year to KZT 2.6 trillion. FX sales from the National Fund totalled $2.8 billion. For Chinese firms earning in tenge, the move feeds directly into margins.

Kazakhstan’s government has approved an investment agreement between the Ministry of Industry and Construction and Aktobe Steklo LLP to build a glass packaging plant in Aktobe. Investment: 60 billion tenge; capacity: 256 million units a year. Construction starts in Q4 2026; commissioning in 2029. The region has no local glass manufacturing; up to 80% of output is planned for the domestic market, the rest for Central Asia. For investors, the deal signals localization in processing and future packaging supply for food producers.

Updated National Bank of Kazakhstan data show gross FDI inflows of about $9.36 billion in H1 2026, down 7.8% year on year. China invested $1.47 billion, up 4.9%, ranking third, and its net inflow rose from $185 million to $695 million. Capital is moving from mining into construction, trade and finance, which means more competition and more potential partners for Chinese contractors and distributors.

Kazakhstan's National Bank and Finance Ministry said on October 8 that J.P. Morgan has placed the country's local-currency government bonds on GBI-EM Index Watch-Positive after its 2026 review, with a provisional 0.48% weight in GBI-EM Global Diversified if admitted. Over up to 12 months the bank will test foreign access, settlement and liquidity – a process Chinese firms borrowing in tenge should watch for its effect on local funding costs.

AIX said on October 9 that turnover for the first nine months of 2026 exceeded $1.9 billion, up from $1.1 billion a year earlier, with September a record month at $562 million. The third quarter brought renminbi listings from KazMunayGas, the Development Bank of Kazakhstan and a sovereign panda bond, plus voluntary carbon credit trading from September 10. For Chinese investors, AIX is emerging as a venue linking Kazakh issuers to renminbi capital.

Allur vice president Maxim Myagchilov said in late September that assembly of Li Auto vehicles at the SaryarkaAvtoProm plant in Kostanay will begin in November 2026. The first models are the L6, L7 and L9 hybrids, capacity is up to 10,000 cars a year, production starts as SKD assembly, and output will initially serve Kazakhstan only, with exports to Central Asia and the EAEU still under study. The two companies signed a strategic cooperation agreement in late June; it is Li Auto’s first production outside China. Prices will be announced at launch.

On 6 October Deputy Prime Minister Zhaslan Madiyev told Kazakhstan’s government that all 390 km of the Trans-Caspian subsea cable between Sumgait and Aktau had been laid, with launch planned for October. The 4,511-km West–East backbone from Aktau to Khorgos on the Chinese border is half built and due to be commissioned by year-end. How it will interconnect with Chinese networks, and on what terms capacity will be sold, has not been disclosed.

Construction is under way at the QazCem Industries cement plant in Aktobe region's Baiganin district, a partnership between Kazakhstan's Primus Capital and Sinoma Cement, part of China's CNBM. The plant targets 1.3 million tonnes a year on a $176.9 million budget, with about 75% due to be spent by end-2026 and the clinker line slated for the second half of 2027.

For Chinese companies entering Kazakhstan and teams planning to use AI there. On October 10 Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella argued on X that frontier AI models should be managed as insider risks: capability can come from outside, but authority and controls stay outside the model. We distil four ideas and, using our coverage of the Middle Corridor, Aktau port, Khorgos and the Jiangsu Center, show how to build an investment, trade and logistics setup that is observable, verifiable and can be stopped.

Chinese companies heading to Kazakhstan and Central Asia now have a service point in Astana. As the platform operator confirmed on October 11, the Jiangsu Center in Central Asia offers warehousing, office space, company registration, legal, tax, market development and government relations services, delivered by Suhao Central Asia Jiangsu Center company (Suhao Central Asia Jiangsu Center), set up in Astana by Suhao Eurasia Interconnect Group. It works with a Khorgos forward warehouse and a mini-program.

At the Kazakhstan–China Investment Forum in Almaty on 25 September 2026, China's BeOne Medicines and Kazakh pharmaceutical distributor INKAR presented a project to localize production of innovative cancer drugs in Kazakhstan. The product list, investment, site and timeline have not been officially disclosed.

China's East Hope Group bought an operating grain elevator in Kazakhskoye village, Zhaksy district, Akmola region, and is rebuilding it. The investment is USD 6 million and about 80% of the work is done. Once upgraded, the facility will receive, store and process wheat and produce up to 100,000 tonnes of feed flour a year; launch is planned for October 2026, with about 30 permanent jobs.