Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In January-August 2023, foreign trade turnover of Uzbekistan amounted to US$40.0 billion and increased, compared to the same period last year, by US$7.5 billion, or by 23.2%, the Statistics Agency of Uzbekistan said.

Of the total foreign trade turnover volume, exports amounted to 16 434.6 million US dollars (an increase of 27.8% was noted by January-August 2023), and imports amounted to 23 611.0 million US dollars (an increase of 20.2%). As a result, the balance of foreign trade turnover amounted to a negative balance of -7 176.4 million US dollars.

Today, the Republic of Uzbekistan carries out trade relations with 190 countries of the world. The largest volume of foreign trade turnover was recorded with China (20.7%), Russia (15.4%), Kazakhstan (7.2%), Turkey (5.3%) and the Republic of Korea (3.7%).

In the structure of the republic’s foreign trade turnover, a significant share is registered in the city of Tashkent, which is 37.4%, or 14 972.3 million US dollars, and the smallest share is recorded at 0.5%, or 208.3 million US dollars, which is in Surkhandarya region.

The share of foreign trade turnover of the CIS countries during the period under review, compared to the same period in 2022, decreased by 5.8% and their share in foreign trade turnover, based on the results of January-August 2023, amounted to 32.4%.

The volume of foreign trade turnover of other countries in JanuaryAugust 2023, compared to the same period in 2022, increased by 5.8% and amounted to 67.6% of the total foreign trade turnover.

Uzbekistan’s foreign trade turnover with the CIS countries reached 12 992.2 million US dollars, of which exports amounted to 5 264.7 million US dollars, and imports amounted to 7 727.5 million US dollars.

The largest volume of foreign trade turnover with the CIS countries was recorded with Russia (47.5%), Kazakhstan (22.3%) and Kyrgyzstan (5.1%).

The foreign trade turnover of the Republic of Uzbekistan with the EAEU countries during the period under review amounted to 10 158.8 million US dollars, of which the export volume was 3 518.2 million US dollars, and the import volume was 6 640.6 million US dollars.

It should be noted that a common economic territory with a unified customs system has been formed between the EAEU member states (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan), ensuring freedom of movement of goods and services, movement of migrants and movement of capital.

The development of international economic relations contributes to stable growth of exports, and this, in turn, creates the basis for achieving certain results. Based on the reforms carried out aimed at increasing the export potential of the country, supporting exporters from the state and expanding the range of export products, the number of exporters reached 6 136, and the volume of exports of goods and services amounted to 10 797.1 million US dollars (in addition to non-monetary gold) and, compared to the same period in 2022, increased by 9.2%

In the structure of exports, goods occupy 79.1%, of which industrial goods – 16.8%, food products and live animals – 7.1%, various finished products – 5.2%.

The share of exports from CIS countries in January-August 2023, compared to the same period in 2022, decreased by 5.5%.

Our main partners for the export of goods and services in foreign trade turnover in January-August 2023 were countries such as Russia, China, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Their share in total exports reached 42.8%.

In the structure of the republic’s exports, a significant share is noted in the city of Tashkent, which is 19.7%, or 3 240.4 million US dollars, and the smallest share is recorded at 0.7%, or 117.5 million US dollars in Jizzakh region.

Due to the fact that the state pays great attention to the development of agriculture and horticulture, the quality and volumes of exported products are increasing from year to year. In particular, in January-August 2023, 1 246.9 thousand tons of fruits and vegetables were exported, and, compared to the same period in 2022, this figure increased 1.1 times, or by 142.1 thousand tons.

The main export markets for fruits and vegetables were Russia (42.0%), Pakistan (15.4%), Kazakhstan (12.1%) and Kyrgyzstan (8.4%).

The volume of exports of fruits and vegetables during the period under review amounted to 763.6 million US dollars (the rate of increase, compared to the same period in 2022, amounted to 16.5%). In total exports amounted to 4.6%.

Based on the results of January-August 2023, the largest volume in value terms of exports of fruits and vegetables falls to Russia (42.0% of the total volume of fruits and vegetables), which exceeds the volume of exports to Pakistan by 2.7 times.

In recent years, the light industry has seen the development of production of products with high added value. As an economically important industry for Uzbekistan, light industry provides a high level of employment, and also contributes to the industrial potential and international reputation of our country.

The increase in textile exports can be seen as a result of reforms undertaken to produce finished goods instead of raw cotton and create added value.

Based on the results of January-August 2023, the export of textile products was carried out in the amount of 2 111.3 million US dollars, which amounted to 12.8% of its total volume and, compared to January-August 2022, it decreased by 3.7%.

In the structure of exports of textile products, the main share is occupied by finished textile products (41.8%), as well as yarn (40.0%). Thus, in JanuaryAugust 2023, 571 types of textile products were exported to 54 countries.

As a result of the widespread use of new production technologies and modern equipment in the country, as well as the introduction of a quality management system, labor productivity increases, which, in turn, allows finished products to find their place in world markets.

The volume of exports of services in January-August 2023 amounted to 3 428.3 million US dollars, or 20.9% of the total volume of trade exports and increased by 30.2% compared to the same period in 2022. As part of the export of services, the lion’s share is occupied by transport services (44.5%), travel (tourism) (40.8%), telecommunications, computer and information services (6.5%), and other business services (3.5%). At the same time, for other services (4.6%), the largest share respectively falls on insurance and pension services (1.8%), financial services (1.2%), fees for the use of intellectual property (0.7%) and etc.

During the reporting period, imports amounted to 23 611.0 million US dollars (the increase in growth rates compared to January-August 2022 was 20.2%). The main share in its structure is occupied by machinery and transport equipment (38.2%), industrial goods (16.8%), as well as chemicals and similar products (13.4%).

The analysis of the dynamics of imports of goods also showed that in January-August 2023, compared with the same period in 2022, the volume of imports of goods increased by 4 047.7 million US dollars and amounted to 22 039.7 million US dollars, and imports of services reached 1 571.3 million US dollars.

The share of imports from the CIS countries, compared to the same period in 2022, decreased by 5.9% and, according to the results of January-August 2023, it amounted to 32.7%.

In general, based on the results of January-August 2023, goods and services were imported into Uzbekistan from 169 countries. More than 2/3 of imports come from such large partner countries as China, Russia, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, Germany and Brazil.

In the structure of imports of the republic, a significant share was noted in the city of Tashkent, which is 49.7%, or 11731.9 million US dollars, and the smallest share was recorded in Surkhandarya – 0.3%, or 74.6 million US dollars.

The volume of imports of services for January-August 2023 amounted to 1 571.3 million US dollars, or 6.7% of its total volume and decreased by 4.9% compared to the same period in 2022. As part of the import of services, the main share is occupied by travel (tourism – 50.1%), transport services (21.2%), telecommunications, computer and information services (9.1%), other business services (4.8%).

In addition, other services accounted for 14.8% of their total imports, including a high share of maintenance and repair services (3.9%), construction services (3.2%), fees for the use of intellectual property (3.1%), etc.

Based on the results of January-August 2023, in the structure of imports, the volume of industrial goods reached 3 965.3 million US dollars and increased, compared to the same period in 2022, by 6.3%, in general, the share in the total volume of imports amounted to 16.8%.

The main imports of industrial goods are iron and steel (1 585.0 million US dollars), metal products (549.4 million US dollars), textile yarn, fabrics, finished products (441.8 million US dollars), rubber products (348.5 million US dollars), etc.