McDonald's to leave Kazakhstan due to meat logistics difficulties

Fast food retailer McDonald's is set to leave the Kazakhstan market completely.

As RBC-Ukraine reported, the Ministry for Agriculture of Kazakhstan has made this announcement recently, clarifying that there is not enough meat in the country that could replace the previously imported Russian meat goods that were used by the American chain. Following Russia's attack on Ukraine, the US fast food retailer has stopped cooperating with Russian companies and can therefore not work with them in Kazakhstan either.

According to the ministry, McDonald's was prepared to switch to Kazakh products. However, it took some time for domestic manufacturers to implement the company’s high standards. Before switching to local raw materials at the request of the representatives of McDonald’s, the Ministry of Agriculture and other government bodies were and now are ready to contribute to the acceleration and simplification of procedures for the delivery of products from third countries, to prevent the closure of the restaurant chain throughout the country.

Currently, Kazakh producers of meat and dairy products have already started work on bringing production in line with the requirements of McDonald’s, and were to conduct auditing of enterprises in 2023. However, due to the closure of McDonald’s, the planned audit did not take place.

"It has to be noted, that in order to become a supplier of raw products or food goods for McDonald's, one has to undergo certification, which set strict and expensive demands to the whole production chain: starting from the folder for cattle up to packaging. Meanwhile, there is no guarantee that the company will choose you as their supplies", the ministry's statement read.