Kazakhstan cracks down on food prices with stricter inflation controls

Kazakhstan has introduced stricter nationwide regulations to control food prices and reduce inflation. The government has updated the list of essential food items and strengthened penalties for excessive markups to stabilise costs for consumers. The list of essential food items has been expanded to 31 products to improve markup regulation. New rules now legally separate the roles of wholesale suppliers and retailers. The calculation of trade markups no longer includes additional expenses like bonuses, hidden commissions, or insurance-related costs.

The government has signed agreements with domestic producers to set fixed wholesale prices for beef, sunflower oil, and eggs. New mechanisms have also been introduced to identify and remove intermediaries that unnecessarily increase final prices.

Enforcement has already begun, with regional branches of the Ministry issuing 3,614 administrative rulings. These have resulted in fines totalling over 100 million tenge for businesses exceeding the maximum allowed 15% trade markup. Penalties now range from five to 150 monthly calculation indices (MRP). The measures appear to be taking effect. Food inflation has slowed from 13.5% in December to 10.7% by the end of May. Price growth for essential food items has also dropped sharply from 7.3% to 1.8% compared to last year.