# Solico to build cheese plant in Kazakhstan in $66m dairy deal

- Link: https://www.tehranianonline.com/solico-to-build-cheese-plant-in-kazakhstan-in-66m-dairy-deal/
- Published: 2026-06-13T23:45:04+03:30
- Author: MohammadReza AbeshAhmadLou

Iranian food group Solico will build a large cheese-making plant in Kazakhstan’s
Almaty region under an investment agreement worth KZT35.2b ($66m), the Ministry 
of Agriculture June 12, citing the national chamber of entrepreneurs.

The deal deepens trade and economic ties between Kazakhstan and Iran, and follows
a framework cooperation agreement signed in December 2025 during the Iranian president’s
visit to the Central Asian country, as Astana courts foreign investors to expand
value-added food processing, according to intellinews.com.

The plant, with annual capacity of 155,000 tonnes, is being built in the Almaty 
region, where construction and installation work is already under way, the report
stated. The agreement was signed by Kazakh Agriculture Minister Aidarbek Saparov
and Solico Group president Gholamali Soleimani.

![](https://www.tehranianonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/3731-1-1024x579.jpeg)

Solico Group President Gholamali Soleimani

Saparov said attracting strategic investors into agricultural processing was a key
government policy, noting that cheese and cottage-cheese output in Kazakhstan rose
13.1% in 2025. He said the project would expand processing capacity and create a
guaranteed market for domestic milk producers.

Soleimani described Kazakhstan as a long-term strategic partner with significant
agricultural potential and a favourable investment climate, and said the company
was studying further projects in potato processing and baby-food production.

The agreement provides a package of state incentives, including the supply of engineering
infrastructure to the site. Construction is due to be completed and the plant commissioned
in 2029.

The investor committed to creating at least 400 permanent jobs, training Kazakh 
specialists and transferring production technology, the report said. The company
also plans to direct about KZT50mn a year to social initiatives in the Almaty region
between 2028 and 2038.

Solico Group began in the 1970s as a small meat-products business founded by Soleimani
in Tehran and grew into one of Iran’s biggest food conglomerates, later expanding
into dairy, ice cream, beverages and wider regional distribution.

Its foreign-investment push has increasingly centred on overseas production hubs
rather than passive stakes, most notably an AED 130mn SoFood plant in Jebel Ali 
Free Zone and investments in the Lotus Free Zone in Russia across the Caspian Sea.