Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In January-February 2024, foreign trade turnover (FTT) of Uzbekistan amounted to US$9.9 billion and increased, compared to the same period in 2023, by US$940.3 million or 10.5%. This was announced by the Statistics Agency of Uzbekistan.

Of the total FTT volume, exports amounted to US$3.63 billion (an increase of 13.6% was noted by January-February 2023), and imports amounted to US$6.28 billion (an increase of 8.7%). As a result, the balance of foreign trade turnover amounted to a negative balance of -US$2.65 billion.

Today, the Republic of Uzbekistan carries out trade relations with 151 countries of the world. The largest volume of foreign trade turnover was recorded with China (21.5%), Russia (17.8%), Kazakhstan (5.9%), Turkiye (4.4%) and the Republic of Korea (3.7%).

In the structure of the republic’s foreign trade turnover, a significant share is noted in the city of Tashkent, which is 40.1%, or US$3.97 billion, and the smallest share is recorded at 0.7%, or US$65.6 million, in the 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 0.2% and, in general, their share amounted to 32.9%.

The volume of foreign trade turnover in other countries of the world in January-February 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, decreased by 0.2% respectively and amounted to 67.1% of the total foreign trade turnover.

In January-February 2024, the foreign trade turnover of the Republic of Uzbekistan with the CIS countries reached US$3.26 billion, of which the export volume amounted to US$1.08 billion, and the import volume amounted to US$2.17 billion.

The largest volume of foreign trade turnover with the CIS countries was recorded with Russia (54.3%), Kazakhstan (17.8%) and Turkmenistan (5.7%).

The foreign trade turnover of the Republic of Uzbekistan with the EAEU countries during the period under review amounted to US$2.54 billion, of which the export volume was US$746.7 million, the import volume was US$1.79 billion.

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 3,502, and the volume of exports of goods and services amounted to US$2.31 billion (in addition to non-monetary gold) and, compared to the same period in 2023, increased by 14.9%.

In the structure of exports, goods occupy 79.9%, of which other goods – 36.4%, industrial goods – 16.8%, chemicals and similar products – 6.6%, food products and live animals – 6.5%.

The share of exports from CIS countries in January-February 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, decreased by 4.7%.

Our main partners in the export of goods and services in foreign trade turnover in January-February 2024 were countries such as Russia, China, Turkiye, Kazakhstan, France, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Their share in total exports reached 42.1%.

In the structure of the republic’s exports, a significant share is noted in the city of Tashkent, which amounts to 19.7%, or US$716.4 million, and the smallest share is recorded at 0.8%, or US$30.7 million in Jizzakh region.

In January-February 2024, 251.2 thousand tons of fruits and vegetables were exported, and, compared to the same period in 2023, this figure increased 1.9 times, or by 115.6 thousand tons.

The main export markets for fruits and vegetables were Pakistan (26.6%), Russia (26.1%), Kazakhstan (9.1%) and China (9.0%).

The volume of exports of fruits and vegetables during the period under review amounted to US$150.1 million (the rate of increase, compared to the same period in 2023, amounted to 28.9%). In total exports amounted to 4.1%.

Based on the results of January-February 2024, the largest volume in value terms of exports of fruits and vegetables comes from Pakistan (26.6% of the total volume of fruits and vegetables), which exceeds the volume of exports, for example, from Kazakhstan, by 2.9 times.

At the end of January-February 2024, textile products were exported in the amount of US$519.4 million, which amounted to 14.3% of its total volume and, compared to the same period in 2023, it increased by 3.5%.

In the structure of exports of textile products, the main share is also occupied by yarn (47.7%) and finished textile products (37.4%). Thus, in January-February 2024, 496 types of textile products were exported to 52 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-February 2024 amounted to US$728.8 million, or 20.1% of the total volume of trade exports and increased by 23.0% compared to the same period in 2023.

As part of the export of services, the lion’s share is occupied by transport services (48.3%), travel (tourism) (38.5%), telecommunications, computer and information services (6.8%), and other business services (2.6%).

At the same time, for other services (3.8%), the largest share respectively falls on insurance and pension services (1.0%), financial services (1.0%), fees for the use of intellectual property not classified as other categories (0.8%), etc.

During the reporting period, imports amounted to US$6.28 billion (the increase in growth rates compared to January-February 2023 was 8.7%). The main share in its structure is occupied by machinery and transport equipment (38.9%), industrial goods (18.0%), as well as chemicals and similar products (11.8%).

An analysis of the dynamics of imports of goods also showed that in January-February 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, the volume of imports of goods increased by US$348.0 million and amounted to US$5.83 billion, and imports of services reached US$454.5 million.

The share of imports from the CIS countries, compared to the same period in 2023, increased by 2.9% and, according to the results of January-February 2024, it amounted to 34.6%.

In general, based on the results of January-February 2024, goods and services were imported into Uzbekistan from 139 countries. More than 2/3 of imports come from such large partner countries as China, Russia, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea, Turkiye, Turkmenistan and Germany.

In the structure of imports of the republic, a significant share is noted in the city of Tashkent, which amounts to 51.8%, or US$3.26 billion, and the smallest share is recorded in the Republic of Karakalpakstan - 0.5%, or US$30.8 million.

The volume of imports of services in January-February 2024 amounted to US$454.5 million, or 7.2% of its total volume and increased, compared to the same period in 2023, by 52.4%. As part of the import of services, the main share is occupied by travel (tourism - 55.2%), transport services (21.9%), telecommunications, computer and information services (7.6%), as well as other business services (4.4%) .

In addition, other services accounted for 10.8% of their total imports, including a high share of maintenance and repair services (3.9%), insurance and pension services (3.1%), and user fees intellectual property (2.1%), etc.

At the end of January-February 2024, in the structure of imports, the volume of industrial goods reached US$1.13 billion and increased, compared to the same period in 2023, by 32.2%, in general, the share in the total volume of imports was 18.0%.

The main imports of industrial goods are cast iron and steel (US$587.8 million), metal products (US$153.1 million), textile yarn, fabrics, finished products (US$87.9 million), rubber products (US$70.0 million), etc.