In 2016, a vegetable oil plant was built in the village of Ilyichevka, which is one of the largest enterprises of the agricultural cluster of the North Kazakhstan region. The project was implemented jointly with the Chinese company Xian AiJu Cereals Oil Industry Group Co., Ltd., which owns 51% of the share in the authorized capital of the enterprise. The enterprise was created according to the latest technology. All the equipment was customized at the factories of the People’s Republic of China. The plant’s products were intended exclusively for export to China (*). It was one of the first projects of Kazakhstan-China cooperation within the framework of the 52 projects program (*).

The plant was built in just four months. When reaching the design capacity, the enterprise was to process up to 1 thousand tons of seeds per day(*). However, for a long time the plant operated at 40% of capacity, as the full installation and adjustment of equipment was delayed due to problems with the entry of Chinese engineers into the country(*). Another obstacle to the full-scale operation of the enterprise was a ban on the export of oilcake, which is a by-product of production, to China due to phytosanitary requirements of the Chinese side. The problem was only resolved in May 2018(*). In 2019, work began on the expansion of the oil mill, which was not completed until the fall of 2021 due to pandemic, problems with transportation of equipment and involvement of specialists from China(*). After the modernization of the enterprise, it is planned that the plant will process up to 90% of oilseeds produced in the region(*).