The document said President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov approved a programme of measures on expanding and developing of food industry for 2012-2015 on 31 October 2012, which was directed at creating new, reconstructing and modernizing existing enterprises of fat and oil, as well as food industries, as well as on processing meat and milk, fruits and vegetables, as well as grapes.

To satisfy internal consumer market with food products, over 540 new enterprises were commissioned in last three years and the country started to produce 152 new products.

At the same time, the level of industrial processing of raw agriculture products does not meet demands of population and industries on producing ready food products, which have opportunities and resources. Existing capacities of processing enterprises are old and should be replaced. The assortment of produced goods is limited and quality does not meet requirements.

The resolution said that issues related to stimulating farmers, who supply meat and milk to processing enterprises, and forming own sustainable raw base of agriculture firms were not solved.

In order to ensure deepening processing of raw agriculture products at local enterprises and increasing the volume and assortment of modern quality food products, which can compete both in internal and external markets, the government adopted a programme on additional measures on deepening processing raw agriculture products, increasing the volume and assortment of foods products for 2012-2015.

In particular, Uzbekistan plans to increase level of processing of fruits, vegetables and grape from 10.8% (1.183 million tonnes) in 2012 to 16% (2.037 million tonnes) in 2015 and the production volume – from 10.91 million to 12.733 million tonnes in the reporting period.

According to the programme, Uzbekistan will increase production of vegetables from 7.732 million tonnes in 2012 to 9 million tonnes in 2015, and level of processing – from 811,100 tonnes (share in processing – 10.5%) to 1.386 million tonnes (15.4%).

Production of fruits will grow from 2 million tonnes to 2.3 million tonnes in the reporting period, while processing level will increase from 11.1% to 16.6%.

Uzbekistan will also increase production of grapes from 1.152 million tonnes in 2012 to 1.354 million tonnes in 2015. The level of processing will grow from 12.8% to 18.9%.

The document said that Uzbekistan is planning to raise meat production from 958,400 tonnes in 2012 to 1.167 million tonnes in 2015, and processing level – from 6.9% to 12.1%. In particular, the country plans to increase production of sausage products from 26,200 tonnes in 2012 to 35,000 tonnes in 2015 and tinned meat – from 3.69 million to 4.65 million conditional jars.

Production of milk will rose from 7.187 million tonnes in 2012 to 8.675 million tonnes in 2015, while processing level – from 9.6% to 14%.

According to the resolution, from 2012 Uzbekistan will allocate 87,000 hectares for untraditional oil cultures like soya, sunflower and safflower. Uzbekistan plans annually receive 15,000 tonnes of soya seeds, 25,500 tonnes of sunflower and 30,000 tonnes of safflower. The country plans to produce 14,917 tonnes of oil from them.