Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In 2023, Uzbekistan entered the top five largest markets for the products of enterprises of the Republic of Belarus through the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE). This was announced by the head of the department of foreign economic activity of BUCE, Alexander Bashliy, speaking at the 3rd meeting of the Uzbek-Belarusian Business Council in Tashkent.

“At the end of last year, exchange exports to Uzbekistan increased more than 15 times. At the same time, by expanding the range of goods purchased by Uzbek companies, we could achieve even higher results. Currently, the Uzbek market is supplied mainly with lumber and sugar, while no transactions have yet been concluded for such liquid items as milk powder, butter and metal products. I believe that realizing the potential of these commodity areas can bring exchange trading in Belarus and Uzbekistan to a qualitatively new level,” emphasized Alexander Bashliy.

Along with deepening cooperation regarding the export of Belarusian products, the head of the BUCE Foreign Economic Activity Department also called for more active use of the exchange mechanism for the supply of Uzbek-made goods to Belarus. For this purpose, it is planned to use the capabilities of the BUTB platform for industrial and consumer goods, where the import substitution service, popular among Belarusian enterprises, is available.

“In 2023, Uzbek manufacturers for the first time used the Belarusian import substitution platform to sell cotton yarn. The total amount of transactions amounted to US$1.1 million. As part of the development of exchange imports this year, I would like to not only increase sales volumes for this product item, but also bring other types of import-substituting products produced in Uzbekistan to auction. The exchange is open for cooperation and is ready to consider any proposals from representatives of Uzbek business,” noted Alexander Bashliy.

As of 1 February 2024, 101 companies from Uzbekistan were accredited at BUCE, including 7 stock brokers. In January, the amount of transactions by Uzbek participants amounted to US$5.2 million. For comparison, in January 2023 this figure was equal to US$60,000.