Kazakh processors are asking Uzbekistan to reduce the transit approval period for meal and cake.

Kazakh processors have asked Uzbekistan to expedite the approval process for sunflower meal and cake transit. This issue was raised at the Uzbek-Kazakh business forum in Tashkent by a representative of Kazakhstan's oil and fat industry.

**The Nature of the Problem**

The Chairman of the Kazakhstan Oil and Fat Producers Association noted that, according to current regulations, the Uzbek side spends approximately 30 business days approving the transit of sunflower meal and cake.

"Meal and cake are essentially processed products. And according to current regulations, we expect the Uzbek side to provide approval within almost 30 business days," he stated.

For comparison, he cited the example of countries through which Kazakh meal transits to Europe, where the approval process takes no more than 10 business days.

"In Uzbekistan, almost all of our oil mills are waiting three times longer," he emphasized, calling for the deadlines to be reduced to a level comparable to other transit countries.

**Reaction from the Uzbek side**

The head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan, Davron Vakhabov, announced that this issue would be discussed at a business council meeting the following day, with the participation of a representative of the newly created food safety agency.

"Then we will hold a business council tomorrow morning. We will invite the deputy head of the newly created food safety agency," he said, proposing that representatives of the agencies issuing business permits be permanently included in the business council.

Kanat Sharlapayev, Chairman of the Presidium of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan "Atameken," supported this initiative.

"I fully support it. It would be right to have a dialogue, so that they also participate in our business council," he noted.

**Context: Supply Dynamics**

Kazakhstan is a key supplier of vegetable oils to Uzbekistan, supplying virtually all of Central Asia with high-protein feed—sunflower meal, used in poultry and livestock farming.

According to industry estimates, after nine months of the current season, vegetable oil and meal shipments from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan will total approximately 650,000 tons, valued at $440–445 million, a 27% increase compared to last season.

The share of packaged refined oil has also increased: over the first nine months of the current season, it reached approximately 38%, compared to approximately 30% in the previous two seasons.

In absolute terms, refined packaged oil shipments have increased almost 2.6-fold over the past three seasons.