Kazakhstan’s Hyundai Trans Auto and Belarusian company RCM have agreed on plans to supply 790 Kazakhstan-made commercial vehicles to Belarus in 2027–2028. The proposed shipments are worth at least $30 million, expanding the Central Asian country’s exports of manufactured goods, DKNews.kz reports.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Trade and Integration announced the agreement following a meeting of the Kazakhstan–Belarus Business Council at the INNOPROM Belarus industrial forum. The ministry and Kazakhstan’s trade development agency, QazTrade, supported the negotiations.
Vehicle export potential exceeds the planned shipments
The agreement covers only part of the market opportunity identified by Kazakhstan. The trade ministry estimates that Kazakh vehicle manufacturers could supply up to 4,500 vehicles a year to Belarus. That figure represents assessed export potential, rather than confirmed orders.
The two countries are also pursuing projects in manufacturing, railway equipment and agribusiness. The ministry puts the additional export potential for Kazakh products in Belarus at $80.1 million.
For Kazakhstan’s manufacturers, these initiatives offer opportunities to expand overseas sales of finished products, from commercial vehicles to food and railway components.
Eight producers join a new trade channel
A separate agreement aims to expand shipments of Kazakh products through an existing export promotion programme.
Supporting that effort is Kazakh Trade House, which opened in Minsk in January 2026. It promotes Kazakh goods in Belarus and helps companies develop export projects.
A group of eight Kazakh producers has been assembled. Potential shipments under this initiative are estimated at up to 20 truckloads of goods annually, worth up to $300,000.
Food suppliers are also exploring access to Euroopt, one of Belarus’s largest retail chains. Products under consideration include vegetable oil, dairy products, beverages, mineral water, flour, cereals and canned meat. These deliveries remain under discussion.
Railway exports are underway; local production projects take shape
Some industrial cooperation has already translated into shipments. Kazakhstan’s Prommashkomplekt supplies solid-rolled railway wheels to Belarus.
Railways Systems Holding is negotiating deliveries of railcars, railbuses, components and other products.
Two further projects would establish production in Kazakhstan with Belarusian partners. POZHSNAB and Avtokomponenty KZ are working on plans to manufacture specialised firefighting vehicles.
Qaz-Bel Lift and the Mogilev Elevator Plant are developing an elevator intended for subsequent production in Aktobe, western Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan imports three times as much as it exports
The agreements come as bilateral trade grows, although Kazakhstan continues to buy substantially more from Belarus than it sells there.
According to Kazakhstan’s trade ministry, two-way trade rose 30% in 2025, exceeding $1.2 billion. In January–July 2026, it increased a further 20.5% to $723 million.
Kazakhstan’s exports accounted for $180.3 million, while imports from Belarus totalled $542.7 million—roughly three times as much.
The partners now intend to focus on securing specific contracts and increasing deliveries of Kazakh products. Agricultural and food exports are already gaining ground: Kazakhstan’s agribusiness shipments to Belarus rose 34.9% to $24.9 million in the first seven months of 2026.
The export push also forms part of a broader industrial relationship. DKNews.kz previously covered Kazakhstan’s industrial digitalisation strategy presented at INNOPROM Belarus in 2025.
