Kazakhstan's industrial output growth slowed to 0.2 percent last year from 2.3 percent in 2013 due mainly to lower production of its key commodities, oil and copper, the Statistics Committee said on Tuesday. The Kazakh government had forecast that industrial output in Central Asia's largest economy would grow by 0.8 percent in 2014.
Oil output, the second highest in the former Soviet Union after Russia, fell by 1.2 percent last year to 80.8 million tonnes, official statistics show, against planned production of 81.8 million. It is expected to remain stagnant in 2015. Kashagan, the world's biggest oil field discovered in decades, halted production after gas leaks were discovered in its pipelines shortly after its launch in September 2013.
It is not expected to restart production before the second half of 2016. Refined copper output dropped by 16.5 percent to 300,000 tonnes last year, the committee said. The fall in oil and copper output was offset mainly by higher natural gas production and increased output of other non-ferrous ores and of oil products.
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