Uzbekistan Fines Flour Firm for Bypassing Mandatory Exchange Trading

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — The Surkhandarya regional office of the Committee for Competition Development and Consumer Rights Protection has taken enforcement action against DENOV OLTIN DON LLC, a flour manufacturer, after routine market monitoring uncovered a sustained breach of exchange-trading regulations, authorities announced June 12.

Between October 2025 and March 31, 2026, the company sold 205 tonnes of flour products directly under export contracts, bypassing the mandatory commodity exchange through which such high-liquidity goods are legally required to be traded. The total value of the off-exchange transactions exceeded 634 million soums.

The violation carried an aggravating dimension: the grain used to produce that flour — 273 tonnes in total — had itself been purchased by the company through the exchange using state funds from the national grain fund, meaning public resources were used to produce goods that were then sold outside the regulated market framework the state requires.

The Committee found the conduct in direct violation of Article 29 of Uzbekistan's Law on Competition, which prohibits actions that restrict or may restrict competition, including breaches of exchange-trading procedures. The sale of high-liquidity or monopoly-category goods via direct contracts — rather than through the designated exchange platforms — constitutes a serious violation under Uzbek law.

The Surkhandarya Special Commission opened a formal case against DENOV OLTIN DON under the Competition Law and Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 170, applied a financial penalty, and issued a mandatory remediation order requiring the company to fully eliminate the consequences of the violation and prevent recurrence.

The case is part of a broader pattern of enforcement actions Uzbekistan's competition authorities have pursued against commodity market participants who exploit direct-contract channels to avoid the price transparency and competitive discipline that exchange trading is designed to enforce.