Food wholesaler Metro is withdrawing from Kazakhstan

The food wholesaler Metro is withdrawing from Kazakhstan after almost two decades.

As the company announced in Düsseldorf, it will cease business in the Central Asian state by the end of March 2027. Six wholesale stores and the delivery business will be closed, affecting around 650 employees. The decision was made after an examination of the long-term prospects; building a viable basis for sustainable growth in Kazakhstan is “challenging”.

Metro entered the Kazakh market in 2009. In the 2024/25 financial year, the group had sales there of 143 million euros - that was 0.4 percent of the group sales of 32.4 billion euros. The decision was regretted, said Metro labor director Christiane Giesen. “This decision is the result of a careful assessment of the long-term prospects of the business and in no way calls into question the commitment and performance of our team in Kazakhstan.”

No connection to Russia-Aus

In the neighboring country of Russia it is also over; President Vladimir Putin recently had the Metro business put into receivership. Metro has been active in Russia since 2001; most recently, the German group had 91 wholesale stores and around 9,000 employees there. Metro had around 84,000 employees across the group at the end of September 2025.

The Düsseldorf-based group stated that it no longer had operational control over Metro Russia. However, ownership of Metro Russia formally remains with Metro AG. The company also spoke of a “temporary receivership”. A company spokeswoman said that there was no connection between the development in Russia and the decision on Kazakhstan. The temporal proximity is coincidental.