Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In January-April 2024, foreign trade turnover (FTT) of Uzbekistan made up US$20.9 billion and increased, compared to the same period in 2023, by US$1.2 billion, or 5.9%, the Statistics Agency said.

Of the total FTT volume, exports reached US$8.49 billion (an increase of 9.0% was noted by January-April 2023), and imports made up 12.38 billion (an increase of 3.9%). As a result, the balance of foreign trade turnover amounted to a negative balance of -US$3.89 billion.

Today, Uzbekistan carries out trade relations with 186 countries of the world. The largest volume of foreign trade turnover was recorded with China (19.0%), Russia (18.4%), Kazakhstan (5.9%), Turkey (4.4%) and the Republic of Korea (3.3%).

In the structure of the republic’s foreign trade turnover, a significant share is noted in the city of Tashkent, which is 38.8%, or US$8.09 billion, and the smallest share is recorded at 0.7%, or US$137.2 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 0.3% and, in general, their share amounted to 32.9%.

The economic growth of countries trading with Uzbekistan may lead to an increase in demand for the republic’s exports from consumers of these countries.

The volume of foreign trade turnover of other countries of the world in January-April 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, decreased by 0.3% respectively and amounted to 67.1% of the total foreign trade turnover.

In January-April 2024, the foreign trade turnover of the Republic of Uzbekistan with the CIS countries reached US$6.86 billion, of which the export volume amounted to US$2.36 billion, and the import volume amounted to US$4.5 billion.

Trade in the CIS free trade zone has a positive effect on the overall foreign trade turnover of Uzbekistan. The largest volume of foreign trade turnover with the CIS countries was recorded with Russia (56.0%), Kazakhstan (17.8%) and Turkmenistan (4.2%).

The foreign trade turnover of the Republic of Uzbekistan with the EAEU countries during the period under review made up US$5.49 billion, of which the export volume was US$1.61 billion, the import volume was US$3.88 billion.

The number of exporters reached 4,660, and the volume of exports of goods and services amounted to US$4.99 billion (in addition to non-monetary gold) and, compared to the same period in 2023, increased by 5.6%.

In the structure of exports, goods occupy 80.7%, of which other goods – 40.4%, industrial goods – 15.9%, chemicals and similar products – 5.7%, food products and live animals – 5.6%.

The share of exports from CIS countries in January-April 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, decreased by 2.9%.

Our main partners for the export of goods and services in foreign trade turnover in January-April 2024 were countries such as Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Afghanistan, France and Kyrgyzstan. Their share in total exports reached 37.1%.

In the structure of the republic’s exports, a significant share is noted in the city of Tashkent, which amounts to 17.8%, or US$1.51 billion, and the smallest share is recorded at 0.8%, or US$63.7 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-April 2024, 514.8 thousand tons of fruits and vegetables were exported, and, compared to the same period in 2023, this figure increased by 43.3%, or 155.6 thousand tons.

The main export markets for fruits and vegetables were Russia (26.3%), Pakistan (24.2%), Kazakhstan (13.0%) and China (9.3%).

The volume of exports of fruits and vegetables during the period under review reached US$298.5 million (the rate of increase, compared to the same period in 2023, amounted to 16.5%). In total exports amounted to 3.5%.

Based on the results of January-April 2024, the largest volume in value terms of exports of fruits and vegetables comes from Russia (26.3% of the total volume of fruits and vegetables), which exceeds the volume of exports, for example from Kazakhstan, by 2.0 times.

Based on the results of January-April 2024, textile products were exported in the amount of US$1.01 billion, which amounted to 11.9% of its total volume and, compared to the same period in 2023, it increased by 1.4%.

In the structure of exports of textile products, the main share is also occupied by yarn (46.8%) and finished textile products (37.3%). Thus, in January-April 2024, 495 types of textile products were exported to 55 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-April 2024 made up US$1.64 billion, or 19.3% of the total volume of trade exports and increased by 11.1% compared to the same period in 2023.

As part of the export of services, the lion’s share is occupied by transport services (44.0%), travel (tourism) (41.2%), telecommunications, computer and information services (9.1%), and other business services (2.7%). At the same time, for other services (3.1%), the largest share respectively falls on insurance and pension services (1.3%), financial services (0.9%), government goods and services not classified as other categories ( 0.6%), etc.

During the reporting period, imports amounted to US$12.38 billion (the increase in growth rates compared to January-April 2023 was 3.9%). The main share in its structure is occupied by machinery and transport equipment (36.8%), industrial goods (15.9%), as well as chemicals and similar products (12.4%).

An analysis of the dynamics of imports of goods also showed that in January-April 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, the volume of imports of goods increased by US$205.7 million and amounted to US$11.46 billion, and imports of services reached US$918.3 million.

The share of imports from the CIS countries, compared to the same period in 2023, increased by 2.5% and, based on the results of January-April 2024, it amounted to 36.4%.

In general, based on the results of January-April 2024, goods and services were imported into Uzbekistan from 156 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 amounts to 53.2%, or US$6.58 billion, and the smallest share is recorded in the Republic of Karakalpakstan - 0.5%, or US$62.5 million.

The volume of imports of services for January-April 2024 amounted to US$918.3 million, or 7.4% of its total volume and increased, compared to the same period in 2023, by 39.0%.

As part of the import of services, the main share is occupied by travel (tourism - 52.1%), transport services (21.0%), telecommunications, computer and information services (9.2%), as well as other business services (5.4%) .

In addition, other services accounted for 12.3% of total imports, including a high share of fees for the use of intellectual property not classified as other categories (4.1%), maintenance and repair services not classified as other categories (3.4%), insurance and pension services (2.0%), etc.

Based on the results of January-April 2024, the volume of industrial goods in the import structure reached US$1.97 billion and increased, compared to the same period in 2023, by 7.8%; in general, the share in the total volume of imports was 15.9%.

The main imports of industrial goods are iron and steel (US$914.3 million), metal products (US$271.8 million), textile yarn, fabrics, finished products (US$171.5 million), rubber products (US$140.2 million) and etc.