At the webinar held by QazTrade, entrepreneurs discussed their participation in government export support programs and shared their experience of working on an international e-commerce platform Alibaba.com.
Vice-Minister of Trade and Integration Kairat Torebayev, welcomed the participants of the training seminar and noted the positive results of the Program on bringing Kazakhstan companies to the global marketplace.
“Today, more than 7.5 thousand Kazakhstan goods are presented on the Alibaba.com e-commerce platform. The total sales volume of domestic companies from 2020 to 2022 amounted to about 260 million dollars; companies receive 500 requests for goods every month. The government support tool has shown its effectiveness in terms of opening new markets, increasing the recognition of domestic products and volume of non- primary exports,” notes Vice Minister.
QazTrade together with the Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan is the operator of the program for bringing Kazakhstan companies to the international marketplace.
This year, 70 companies will be able to present their products on the platform and obtain the “Gold Supplier” status free of charge for one year.
According to the representative of BEEF EXPORT GROUP LLP Roman Brusentsov, the international marketplace allows to generate clients from different countries.
“During the placement of our catalog, we have received about 1 thousand requests from China, Russia, Uzbekistan, EU countries, Africa, Australia. It is clear that we cannot ship products to every country at the moment, since there are no agreements between our ministries. But I think it’s in prospect. Only from China, it is still closed for meat, we have received about 100 hot contacts who are ready to work with us when the border is opened. We met with entrepreneurs from Uzbekistan, signed two contracts with them. Within the framework of these contracts, we are working out the supply of products to Tashkent,” Roman Brusnetsov shared his experience of participating in the program for bringing Kazakhstan companies to Alibaba.com.
The production capacity of the domestic enterprise exceeds 1.5 thousand heads of cattle per day. In 2022, BEEF EXPORT GROUP became a participant in two state programs at once – export acceleration and the bringing to Alibaba.com.
Victoria Sidelnikova, the speaker of the webinar, representative of Tek Tau LLP, shared the specifics of finding partners through the trading platform. The company is engaged in the production of honey and beekeeping products, in 2022 it became a participant in the state support programs.
“A year ago, we registered on the platform, received a “Gold Supplier” status. We received about 500 applications, we didn’t even have enough time to respond. Mostly there were requests from China or African countries. As a result, we concluded one main contract. Now we are negotiating the supply of honey with another buyer from China, who found us through Alibaba.com and came to visit our production. In the process of working on the marketplace, a lot of spam comes, you just need to carefully choose the contracts that will suit you,” Victoria Sidelnikova noted.
As the Deputy General Director of QazTrade JSC Assel Egemberdiyeva noted, activity is the key to the success of work on Alibaba.com.
“The online platform works like any social network. If you are active, constantly responding to requests, then success is guaranteed,” the moderator of the webinar concluded and added that Kazakhstan honey has been in the top of requests from international partners through the marketplace since 2020.
Companies are currently being selected to participate in the program. In addition to paying for premium accounts, entrepreneurs will get support during the verification procedure and mini-sites creation, and will be provided analytical and consultancy support. Experts will also conduct online trainings for business representatives on working on Alibaba.com and promoting goods.
Currently, all business segments are represented on the international B2B marketplace. According to Boris Neyman, CEO of PDO Group LLP, products from the categories “Food, Beverages” and “Agriculture” occupy the leading positions among the goods in demand.
“This clearly shows the change in consumption trends around the world. Before the pandemic, clothing and electronics were on the first place,” he noted.
The top 10 popular products also include products for beauty and health, clothing, electronics and more.
You can find out more about the government assistance programs by watching the webinar recording at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW1WIr1uI74