Today, the Almaty agglomeration unites almost 4 million people and over 35 percent of all small and medium-sized businesses in the country. It is Kazakhstan's largest financial, entrepreneurial, and logistics center. By the end of 2025, Almaty's foreign trade turnover reached $33.6 billion USD, growing by 5.2 percent. Exports amounted to $6 billion. Despite positive dynamics, export growth rates still lag behind the city's real economic potential. At the same time, steady growth in supplies to China, Central Asian countries, Europe, and the CIS confirms high demand for the region's products and opens opportunities for scaling Kazakhstani brands in foreign markets.
Almaty Region demonstrates higher dynamics. The region's trade turnover increased by 15.6 percent, reaching $4.2 billion USD. Exports grew by 28 percent, exceeding the mark of $1.1 billion. Importantly, the driver of growth is finished products. This indicates a gradual transition from a raw material economic model to an industrial-agrarian one. As a result, a unified economic ecosystem of the agglomeration is being formed. Almaty acts as a center for management, finance, trade, and logistics. The region is becoming a production platform for large-scale industrial output.
"An additional direction for growth is the export of services. Almaty is already the country's leader in supplying business and IT services abroad. Their volume exceeds $300 million USD. Intellectual property, digital solutions, consulting, finance, advertising, and analytics are becoming new drivers of non-resource exports and forming the basis for developing a knowledge economy and creative industries," noted Arman Shakkaliyev.
E-commerce provides the impulse for export activity. Almaty accounts for over half of the country's total online sales volume. This is about 3 trillion tenge. Essentially, this is ready-made infrastructure for small and medium-sized businesses to enter foreign markets. It allows for significantly reducing transaction costs and accelerating the integration of domestic companies into global supply chains.
According to estimates by the Ministry of Trade, the aggregate export potential of the Almaty agglomeration is about $1.5 billion USD. The main part falls on high value-added products. Growth reserves are concentrated in the segment of finished goods. Primarily, this is the food industry, chemicals, and engineering. Significant potential also remains in pharmaceuticals, construction materials production, and the IT sector. The development of deep processing and industrial cooperation in these industries can provide a multiplier effect for the region's economy, employment, and tax base.
