Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In January 2024, Uzbekistan’s foreign trade turnover amounted to US$4.2 billion and decreased, compared to the same period in 2023, by US$870.1 million, or by 17.2%, according to the Statistics Agency.

Of the total volume of foreign trade turnover, exports amounted to US$1.11 billion (a decrease of 47.1% by January 2023), and imports amounted to US$3.08 billion (an increase of 4.1%). As a result, the balance of foreign trade turnover amounted to a negative balance of -US$1.96 billion.

Today, Uzbekistan carries out trade relations with 137 countries of the world. The largest volume of foreign trade turnover was recorded with China (27.2%), Russia (18.3%), Kazakhstan (6.5%), Turkey (5.1%) and the Republic of Korea (4.3%).

In the structure of the republic’s foreign trade turnover, a significant share is noted in the city of Tashkent, which is 47.0%, or US$1.97 billion, and the smallest share is recorded at 0.8%, or US$35.3 million, in Surkhandarya region.

The share of foreign trade turnover of the CIS countries during the period under review, compared to the same period in 2023, increased by 7.5% and their share in foreign trade turnover, as of January 2024, amounted to 34.5%.

The volume of foreign trade turnover of other countries in January 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, decreased by 7.5% and amounted to 65.5% of the total foreign trade turnover.

Uzbekistan’s foreign trade turnover with the CIS countries reached US$1.44 billion, of which the export volume amounted to US$524.4 million, and the import volume amounted to US$923.8 million.

The largest volume of foreign trade turnover with the CIS countries was recorded with Russia (52.9%), Kazakhstan (18.7%) and Turkmenistan (4.1%).

The foreign trade turnover of the Republic of Uzbekistan with the EAEU countries during the period under review amounted to US$1.13 billion, of which the export volume was US$352.3 million, and the import volume was US$776.2 million.

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 number of exporters reached 2,601, and the volume of exports of goods and services amounted to US$1.11 billion (in addition to non-monetary gold) and, compared to the same period in 2023, decreased by 47.1%.

In the structure of exports, goods occupy 67.0%, of which industrial goods – 25.0%, food products and live animals – 10.4%, chemicals and similar products – 10.0%.

The share of exports from CIS countries in January 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, increased by 24.0%.

Our main partners in the export of goods and services in foreign trade turnover in January 2024 were countries such as Russia, China, Turkey, Kazakhstan, France, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Their share in total exports reached 67.2%.

In the structure of the republic’s exports, a significant share is noted in the city of Tashkent, which amounts to 32.0%, or US$357.2 million, and the smallest share is recorded at 1.3%, or US$14.2 million 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 2024, 146.3 thousand tons of fruits and vegetables were exported, and, compared to the same period in 2023, this figure increased by 2.2 times, or by 78.8 thousand tons.

The main markets for the export of fruits and vegetables were Russia (27.2%), Pakistan (21.2%), China (13.4%) and Kazakhstan (9.2%).

The volume of exports of fruits and vegetables during the period under review amounted to US$75.4 million (the rate of increase, compared to the same period in 2023, amounted to 29.3%). In total exports amounted to 6.8%.

Based on the results of January 2024, the largest volume in value terms of exports of fruits and vegetables falls to Russia (27.2% of the total volume of fruits and vegetables), which exceeds the volume of exports, for example, to China by 2.0 times.

At the end of January 2024, textile products were exported in the amount of US$250.2 million, which amounted to 22.4% of its total volume and, compared to the same period in 2023, it increased by 14.4%.

In the structure of exports of textile products, the main share is also occupied by yarn (48.5%) and finished textile products (37.4%). Thus, in January 2024, 438 types of textile products were exported to 47 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 at the end of January 2024 amounted to US$368.4 million, or 33.0% of the total volume of trade exports and increased, compared to the same period in 2023, by 23.1%.

As part of the export of services, the lion share is occupied by transport services (46.9%), travel (tourism) (39.7%), telecommunications, computer and information services (6.9%), and other business services (2.7%). At the same time, for other services (3.7%), the largest share respectively falls on insurance and pension services (1.1%), financial services (1.0%), fees for the use of intellectual property not classified as other categories (0.9%), etc.

During the reporting period, imports amounted to US$3.08 billion (the increase in growth rates compared to January 2023 was 4.1%). The main share in its structure is occupied by machinery and transport equipment (43.2%), industrial goods (17.0%), as well as chemicals and similar products (11.8%).

An analysis of the dynamics of imports of goods also showed that in January 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, the volume of imports of goods increased by US$122.2 million and amounted to US$3.08 billion, and imports of services reached US$227.9 million.

The share of imports from the CIS countries, compared to the same period in 2023, increased by 0.2% and, at the end of January 2024, it amounted to 30.0%.

In general, as of January 2024, goods and services were imported into Uzbekistan from 129 countries. More than 2/3 of imports come from such large partner countries as China, Russia, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, Germany and Turkmenistan.

In the structure of imports of the republic, a significant share is noted in the city of Tashkent, which is 52.5%, or US$1.62 billion, and the smallest share is recorded in Surkhandarya - 0.5%, or US$15.7 million.

The volume of imports of services in January 2024 amounted to US$227.9 million, or 7.4% of its total volume and increased by 2.3% compared to the same period in 2023. As part of the import of services, the main share is occupied by travel (tourism - 59.0%), transport services (19.4%), telecommunications, computer and information services (7.4%), as well as technical services (4.6%).

In addition, other services accounted for 9.6% of their total imports, including a high share of other business services (3.9%), fees for the use of intellectual property (3.5%), insurance and pension services (1.0%), etc.

At the end of January 2024, in the structure of imports, the volume of industrial goods reached US$524.0 million and increased, compared to the same period in 2023, by 31.9%, in general, the share in the total volume of imports was 17.0%.

The main imports of industrial goods are iron and steel (US$260.2 million), metal products (US$67.2 million), textile yarn, fabrics, finished products (US$43.9 million), rubber products (US$35.2 million) and etc.