Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In January-December 2023 the foreign trade turnover (FTT) of Uzbekistan made up US$62.6 billion and increased compared to the same period in 2022, by US$12.1 billion or by 23.9%, the Statistics Agency said.

Of the total FTT volume, exports amounted to US$24.42 billion (an increase of 23.8% was noted by January-December 2023), and imports amounted to US$38.14 billion (an increase of 24.0%). As a result, the balance of foreign trade turnover amounted to a negative balance in the amount of - US$13.71 billion.

Today, the Republic of Uzbekistan carries out trade relations with 198 countries of the world. The largest volume of foreign trade turnover was recorded with China (21.9%), Russia (15.8%), Kazakhstan (7.0%), Türkiye (5.0%) and the Republic of Korea (3.7%).

In the structure of the foreign trade turnover of the republic, a significant share is noted in Tashkent cıty, which is 38.8%, or US$24.26 billion, and the smallest share is recorded at 0.5%, or US$325.2 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 2022, decreased by 6.8% and their share in foreign trade turnover, based on the results of January-December 2023, amounted to 32.9%.

The volume of foreign trade turnover of other countries for January-December 2023, compared to the same period in 2022, respectively increased by 6.8% and amounted to 67.1% of the total foreign trade turnover.

The foreign trade turnover of Uzbekistan with the CIS countries reached US$20.56 billion, of which the export volume amounted to US$8.09 billion, and the import volume amounted to US$12.46 billion.

The largest volume of foreign trade turnover with the CIS countries was recorded with Russia (48.1%), Kazakhstan (21.4%) and Turkmenistan (5.3%).

The foreign trade turnover of the Republic of Uzbekistan with the EAEU countries during the period under review amounted to US$15.89 billion, of which the export volume was US$5.46 billion, and the import volume was US$10.44 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 7 255 and the volume of exports of goods and services amounted to US$16.27 billion (in addition to non-monetary gold) and , compared to the same period in 2022, increased by 4.5%.

In the structure of exports, goods occupy 78.8%, of which industrial goods – 16.6%, food products and live animals – 7.3%, machinery and transport equipment – 5.3%.

The share of exports from CIS countries in January-December 2023, compared to the same period in 2022, decreased by 7.1%.

Our main partners for the export of goods and services in foreign trade turnover in January-December 2023 were countries such as Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Türkiye, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Their share in total exports reached 40.4%.

In the structure of the republic’s exports, a significant share is noted in Tashkent cıty, which is 20.3%, or US$4.96 billion, and the smallest share is recorded at 0.7%, or US$173.3 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-December 2023, 1.76 million tons of fruits and vegetables were exported, and, compared to the same period in 2022, this figure increased by 1.1%, or 18.9 thousand tons.

The main markets for the export of fruits and vegetables were Russia (37.0%), Pakistan (16.7%), China (12.3%) and Kazakhstan (10.3%).

The volume of exports of fruits and vegetables during the period under review amounted to US$1.18 billion (the rate of increase, compared to the same period in 2022, was 3.3%). In total exports amounted to 4.8%.

Based on the results of January-December 2023, the largest volume in value terms of exports of fruits and vegetables falls to Russia (37.0% of the total volume of fruits and vegetables), which exceeds the volume of exports to Pakistan by 2.2 times.

Based on the results of January-December 2023, textile products were exported in the amount of US$3.05 billion, which amounted to 12.5% of its total volume and, compared to the same period in 2022, it decreased by 3.8%.

In the structure of exports of textile products, the main share is occupied by finished textile products (41.1%), as well as yarn (41.0%). Thus, in January-December 2023, 639 types of textile products were exported to 65 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-December 2023 amounted to US$5.18 billion, or 21.2% of the total volume of trade exports and increased by 22.6% compared to the same period in 2022. As part of the export of services, the lion’s share is occupied by transport services (43.2%), travel (tourism) (41.4%), telecommunications, computer and information services (8.5%), and other business services (3.1%). At the same time, other services (3.8%) account for the largest share, respectively, of insurance and pension services (1.6%), financial services (1.2%), government goods and services (0.5%) and etc.

During the reporting period, imports amounted to US$38.14 billion (the increase in growth rates compared to January-December 2022 was 24.0%). The main share in its structure is occupied by machinery and transport equipment (39.2%), industrial goods (16.6%), as well as chemicals and similar products (12.8%).

An analysis of the dynamics of imports of goods also showed that in January-December 2023, compared to the same period in 2022, the volume of imports of goods increased by US$7.37 billion and amounted to US$35.57 billion, and imports of services reached US$2.56 billion.

The methodology for maintaining foreign trade statistics provides that it does not include transit goods, as well as goods temporarily admitted into the country or temporarily exported from it.

The share of imports from the CIS countries, compared to the same period in 2022, decreased by 6.6% and, based on the results of January-December 2023, it amounted to 32.7%.

In general, based on the results of January-December 2023, goods and services were imported into Uzbekistan from 179 countries. More than 2/3 of imports come from such large partner countries as China, Russia, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea, Türkiye, Germany and Turkmenistan.

In the structure of imports of the republic, a significant share is noted in Tashkent city, which is 50.6%, or US$19.3 billion, and the smallest share is recorded in Surkhandarya - 0.3%, or US$107.4 million.

The volume of imports of services for January-December 2023 amounted to US$2.56 billion, or 6.7% of its total volume and decreased by 1.6% compared to the same period in 2022. As part of the import of services, the main share is occupied by travel (tourism - 52.2%), transport services (21.0%), telecommunications, computer and information services (9.3%), other business services (4.7%).

In addition, other services accounted for 12.7% of total imports, including a high share of maintenance and repair services (4.0%), fees for the use of intellectual property (3.8%), insurance and pension services provision (2.3%), etc.

According to the results of January-December 2023, in the structure of imports, the volume of industrial goods reached US$6.32 billion and increased, compared to the same period in 2022, by 10.0%, in general, the share in the total volume of imports amounted to 16.6 %.

The main imports of industrial goods are iron and steel (US$2.55 billion), metal products (US$940.1 million), textile yarn, fabrics, finished products (US$675.4 million), rubber products (US$543.5 million), etc.