One local Kazakhstan company, FoodMaster, has expanded rapidly in the last few years and now sells its dairy products throughout much of southern Kazakhstan. There is considerable room for further growth, however. Instead, vegetables and fruits are preserved by individuals in their homes. In 1991, there were 98 vegetable and fruit enterprises employing 5,500 people in Kazakhstan. Far fewer survive today.
Most enterprises are relatively small.
Most of these facilities have inadequate ventilation and cooling systems and, as of June 1999, were only partially utilized. There is considerable foreign competition from the Swedish firm, Tetrapak, in the juice processing industry. Eight factories produce sugar in Kazakhstan. The industry cannot meet domestic requirements even at the much reduced consumption levels of 1998. Significant opportunities for U.S. equipment sales exist in the sugar industry.