Yildirim Holding, a Turkish company, plans to launch soda ash production in Zhambyl region.
In December 2017 Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev had a meeting with Robert Yuksel Yildirim, CEO at Yildirim Holding, at the EXPO Congress Center in Astana. The meeting participants discussed prospects for investment projects in the chemical industry of Kazakhstan. In particular, the head of the Turkish company revealed the plans to build a soda ash production factory in Zhambyl region.
Within the framework of the recent official visit of the Kazakh President to Turkey, Ankara hosted the Kazakhstan-Turkey Investment Forum, during which the parties signed 22 commercial documents worth a total of $1.7 billion. This includes the bilateral agreement for the investment project for soda ash production in Togyzkent village in Sarysu district of Zhambyl region signed between the Zhambyl Regional Administration and Yildirim Holding.
At the early stage, the design capacity of the plant will be about 400,000 tons of soda ash per annum, which is equivalent to the volume of soda being imported from Russia nowadays. Covering the demands of the domestic market, it is planned to increase, at the second stage, the design capacity to 1 million tons of soda p.a. and start exporting the products. Experts say that in addition to cutting dependence on imports, the creation of such a production facility will enable Kazakhstan to establish soda ash exports. The products are expected to be exported to China and the Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union. Yildirim Holding plans to commence the construction of the plant in the fourth quarter of 2019 and put it into operation in the first half of 2021. (Kazinform/Business World Magazine)