BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 21. Kazakhstan's manufacturing sector demonstrated substantial growth across multiple high-value segments in January-August 2026, according to data from the Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan.
Leading the expansion, the production of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations surged by 38.9%, while the manufacturing of finished metal products, except machinery and equipment, increased by 33.3%. Significant gains were also observed in the chemical industry, which grew by 27.3%, and mechanical engineering, which expanded by 21.2%. Food production and the manufacturing of rubber and plastic products rose by 12.9% and 18.5%, respectively.
According to Trend calculations, the average growth rate across these five leading segments reached 26.7%, more than three times the manufacturing sector's overall growth rate of 8.4%, reflecting a structural shift toward higher value-added goods. Meanwhile, the overall index of physical volume for the manufacturing sector reached 108.4% compared to the corresponding period of 2025.
In contrast, the mining and quarrying sector recorded an industrial production index of 95.7%, weighed down by declines in the extraction of crude oil to 91.6% and natural gas to 94.6%. According to Trend calculations, the gap between manufacturing and mining performance reached 12.7 percentage points in January-August 2026, up from 13.4 percentage points a month earlier, as the divergence between accelerating manufacturing output and decelerating resource extraction highlights Kazakhstan's ongoing industrial diversification efforts.
The currency conversions are based on the official exchange rate of 1 USD = 444.88 tenge as of September 17, 2026.
