Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- According to preliminary data from the Statistical Agency, in January-July, the volume of Uzbekistan’s foreign trade reached US$34.97 billion, which is 23.3% more than the same period of last year, Spot reported.

xports amounted to US$14.95 billion, having increased by 31% compared to last year. Imports grew somewhat slower - only by 18.1% - but still significantly exceeded exports at US$20.02 billion.

Revenue from gold supplies in July increased significantly to US$5.63 billion. Exports of the precious metal are almost twice as high as in 2022.

As a result of the increased export of gold, the negative balance of foreign trade decreased by almost US$500 million - from US$5.45 to US$5.06 billion.

The place of the main trade partner of the republic is held by China, trade with which amounted to US$6.89 billion or 19.7% of the total external trade. In particular, Chinese imports accounted for US$5.36 billion.

In second place is Russia with US$5.27 billion, while it remains the largest export market for Uzbekistan (US$1.63 billion). Third place is occupied by Kazakhstan (US$2.49 billion), followed by Turkey (US$1.86 billion) and South Korea (US$1.27 billion).

Trade with France has grown sharply - in seven months it amounted to US$ 517.6 million, or almost three times more than last year. Moreover, Uzbek exports to France increased by more than 3.5 times - from US$67 to US$239.5 million.

Export

Minus gold, manufactured goods remain the main article of Uzbekistan’s commodity export. Even taking into account the reduction in their supplies by 9.4%, they brought in US$2.44 billion - more than 16% of all export earnings.

Half of this amount, in turn, was provided by textiles and fabrics (US$1.24 billion, -12.8%). The export of non-ferrous metals also significantly decreased - to US$809.6 million (-13.4%). At the same time, deliveries of iron and steel almost doubled (US$135 million).

Food exports rose by a third to US$1.02 billion. Fruits, vegetables (US$688.4 million, +26.1%) and cereals (US$281.3 million, +70%) accounted for the lion’s share, coffee, tea, cocoa and spices supplies also increased significantly (US$15.6 million).

In consumer products, revenue was US$733 million, or a quarter more than last year. Thus, the export of clothing reached US$624.5 million, and other finished goods - US$54.5 million (+29%).

Deliveries of engineering products approached US$700 million (+45.9%). Exports of automobiles and auto components increased by 38.4 (US$260 million), electrical engineering - by more than a third (US$130.5 million). Deliveries of communication and sound recording devices reached US$65.8 million.

The export of chemical products slightly decreased - US$692 million. The main reason was the drop in the supply of fertilizers (US$154 million) and plastics (US$139.9 million), while revenue from inorganic substances increased by 33% - to US$291.1 million.

Commodity exports are more than 20% below last year’s levels. Thus, revenue from gas (US$341.9 million) fell by more than a third, and from electricity (US$47.2 million) by almost a quarter. On the other hand, deliveries of oil and oil products increased by 73.1% to US$142.7 million.

Import

In the structure of imports of goods, as before, engineering products are in the lead with US$7.51 billion (+33.8%). Almost US$832.8 million (+80.7%) was spent on car imports, another US$801.8 million was spent on parts. More than US$2.5 billion was spent on special machines for industrial purposes.

Second place is occupied by manufactured goods - US$ 3.38 billion. Supplies of iron and steel fell by 6.3% - to US$ 1.35 billion, in parallel, imports of fabrics increased by almost a third (US$ 380.7 million) and rubber products by 57.5% ( US$301.7 million).

Chemical products are in third place with US$2.7 billion. Imports of fertilizers increased 2.3 times, to US$114.4 million. At the same time, supplies of medical and pharmaceutical products decreased slightly, to US$840.1 million.

Food imports amounted to US$1.96 billion (+7.3%). Here grains became the main ones — US$669.6 million (+16.1%). We spent US$326.1 million (+13.3%) on sugar and confectionery, and US$198.5 million (+26.5%) on coffee, tea, cocoa and spices.

Uzbekistan also significantly increased the import of fuels and lubricants. Deliveries of oil and oil products rose by almost 60%, breaking the mark of US$1 billion, as well as coal - by 56.6%, to US$98 million.