After 20 years of no activity, beer exports to Kazakhstan from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region have restarted. Approximately 2,000 boxes of beer from Xinjiang Wusu Beer Company were sent to Kazakhstan, according to the company’s representative.

The move has come following China’s recent trade agreements with the country, along with other Central Asian countries and Belarus in Eastern Europe. A number of economic ties have been strengthened under Xi Jinping’s Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative, which was announced during a visit to Kazakhstan and Indonesia in 2013. The belt is to be established along the ancient Silk Road trade route, which runs from East China to Europe via Central Asia.

Businessmen from Kazakhstan saw the trade opportunity and visited Urumqi in May to talk about the potential business opportunity of importing beer from Xinjiang Wusu Beer Company. The two sides later signed cooperation contracts valued at around 500,000 dollars.

Guo Sixia, one of the businessmen who visited Xinjiang Wusu Beer Company, said that the Kazakh delegation could not wait to look for buyers on their way back to Kazakhstan and that more than 200 tons of beer had been ordered. Guo also said that importing beer to Kazakhstan was their first step before promoting it in Russia and other Central Asian countries.

Du Hui, general manager of Xinjiang Wusu Beer Company, explained that the construction of the Silk Economic Belt has brought about many more business opportunities for Xinjiang-made beer. Though the beer market in Central Asia is dominated predominantly by German and Japanese beer, Xinjiang-made beer has an opportunity to expand its market share in the region, thanks to its geographical proximity and rich raw resources of hops and barley.

By Yang Fan and edited by Jacob Hooson