CAPACITY EVALUATION AND RESEARCH OF TRENDS IN THE MARKET FOR ORGANIC PRODUCTS IN KAZAKHSTAN BASED ON SOCIAL RESEARCH TOOLS

Background. Recent years have seen the demand for organic products steadily growing both in the domestic and foreign markets. This makes it relevant and important to identify specific factors that will affect consumer behavior in the future, using the example of the local market. The purpose of the study is to determine the factors for promoting environmentally friendly products and to identify consumer demand patterns through social research tools. The article deals with research of market capacity for organic products based on an analysis of consumer behavior across the Republic of Kazakhstan, with sociological survey serving as a basis. Purpose. The purpose of the study was to gauge the capacity of the consumer market for organic products in Kazakhstan. In order to identify the factors driving consumer behavior, sociological studies were done based on a survey of Internet users focused on the consumption of organic food, as well as polling of customers of specialized stores of organic products in Astana. Methodology. The study utilized general scientific methods of cognition of socio-economic phenomena and processes: logical and analytical methods, classification, systemic and holistic approaches, ways of synthesis and comparative analysis, sociological survey and polling. Results. The sociological surveys made it possible to identify what consumers of organic products looked like and to generate proposals on how producers should further develop organic farming. Conclusions. Primary cities of organic products consumption in Kazakhstan are Almaty and Astana. The main reasons for this pattern are local population’s high purchasing power, high population density and quite high environmental pollution. Residents of urban areas are more aware of the rapidly developing segment of the food market. Yet, until now, consumers have failed to distinguish pseudo-labels from certified products. The legislators have taken a number of steps to legally interpret and regulate the organic market. Market research has confirmed the need to promote awareness among producers and shape consumer behavior.