Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In January-May 2024, Uzbekistan’s foreign trade turnover made up US$26.7 billion and increased, compared to the same period in 2023, by US$769.5 million, or 3.0%. This was stated by the Statistics Agency of Uzbekistan.

Exports amounted to US$10.85 billion (an increase of 1.9% by January-May 2023), and imports amounted to US$15.87 billion (an increase of 3.7%). As a result, the balance of foreign trade turnover amounted to a negative balance of -US$5.02 billion.

It should be noted that Kazakhstan has become one of the largest foreign economic partners of Uzbekistan (after China and Russia). Reasons for this: the presence of a common border, trade in the CIS free trade zone, as well as liberalization of mutual economic relations

Today, the Republic of Uzbekistan carries out trade relations with 186 countries of the world. The largest volume of foreign trade turnover was recorded with China (18.9%), Russia (17.9%), Kazakhstan (5.9%), Turkey (4.5%) and the Republic of Korea (3.4%).

In the structure of the foreign trade turnover of the republic, a significant share is noted in the city of Tashkent, which is 39.1%, or US$10.46 billion, and the smallest share is recorded at 0.6%, or US$166.0 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 0.6% and, in general, their share amounted to 32.9%.

The economic growth of countries trading with Uzbekistan may lead to an increase in demand for the republic’s exports from consumers of these countries.

The volume of foreign trade turnover of other countries of the world for January-May 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, decreased by 0.6% respectively and amounted to 67.1% of the total foreign trade turnover.

In January-May 2024, the foreign trade turnover of the Republic of Uzbekistan with the CIS countries reached US$8.79 billion, of which the export volume amounted to US$3.11 billion, and the import volume amounted to US$5.68 billion.

Trade in the CIS free trade zone has a positive effect on the overall foreign trade turnover of Uzbekistan. The largest volume of foreign trade turnover with the CIS countries was recorded with Russia (54.4%), Kazakhstan (18.0%) and Turkmenistan (5.2%).

The foreign trade turnover of the Republic of Uzbekistan with the EAEU countries during the period under review amounted to US$6.93 billion, of which the export volume was US$2.1 billion, the import volume was US$4.83 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 5,215, and the volume of exports of goods and services amounted to US$6.58 billion (in addition to non-monetary gold) and, compared to the same period in 2023, increased by 5.9%.

In the structure of exports, goods occupy 79.8%, of which other goods – 38.9%, industrial goods – 15.9%, food products and live animals – 5.8%, chemicals and similar products – 5.6%.

The share of exports from CIS countries in January-May 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, decreased by 1.3%.

Our main partners in the export of goods and services in foreign trade turnover in January-May 2024 were countries such as Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Afghanistan, France and Tajikistan. Their share in total exports reached 37.3%.

In the structure of the republic’s exports, a significant share is noted in the city of Tashkent, which amounts to 19.3%, or US$2.09 billion, and the smallest share is recorded at 0.8%, or US$82.5 million in the 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-May 2024, 722.1 thousand tons of fruits and vegetables were exported, and compared to the same period in 2023, this figure increased by 10.4%, or 68.3 thousand tons.

The main export markets for fruits and vegetables were Russia (32.7%), Pakistan (19.7%), Kazakhstan (15.3%) and China (7.8%).

The volume of exports of fruits and vegetables during the period under review amounted to US$420.1 million (the rate of increase, compared to the same period in 2023, was 2.6%). In total exports amounted to 3.9%.

Based on the results of January-May 2024, the largest volume in value terms of exports of fruits and vegetables comes from Russia (32.7% of the total volume of fruits and vegetables), which exceeds the volume of exports, for example, from Pakistan, by 1.7 times.

Based on the results of January-May 2024, textile products were exported in the amount of US$1.28 billion, which amounted to 11.8% of its total volume and, compared to the same period in 2023, it increased by 0.5%.

In the structure of exports of textile products, the main share is also occupied by yarn (46.8%) and finished textile products (37.6%). Thus, in January-May 2024, 496 types of textile products were exported to 55 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-May 2024 amounted to US$2.19 billion, or 20.2% of the total volume of trade exports and increased by 13.0% compared to the same period in 2023. As part of the export of services, the lion’s share is occupied by transport services (42.2%), travel (tourism) (42.1%), telecommunications, computer and information services (9.0%), and other business services (2.5%). At the same time, for other services (4.2%), the largest share respectively falls on financial services (1.3%), insurance and pension services (1.2%), government goods and services not classified as other categories ( 0.6%), etc.

During the reporting period, imports amounted to US$15.87 billion (the increase in growth rates compared to January-May 2023 was 3.7%). The main share in its structure is occupied by machinery and transport equipment (37.3%), industrial goods (15.2%), as well as chemicals and similar products (12.3%).

An analysis of the dynamics of imports of goods also showed that in January-May 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, the volume of imports of goods increased by US$244.6 million and amounted to US$14.71 billion, and imports of services reached US$1.16 billion.

The share of imports from the CIS countries, compared to the same period in 2023, increased by 1.8% and, based on the results of January-May 2024, it amounted to 35.8%.

In general, based on the results of January-May 2024, goods and services were imported into Uzbekistan from 158 countries. More than 2/3 of imports come from such large partner countries as China, Russia, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, Germany and Turkmenistan.

In the structure of imports of the republic, a significant share is noted in Tashkent, which amounts to 52.7%, or US$8.37 billion, and the smallest share is recorded in Surkhandaryn - 0.4%, or US$71.1 million.

The volume of imports of services for January-May 2024 amounted to US$1.16 billion, or 7.3% of its total volume and increased, compared to the same period in 2023, by 39.0%.

As part of the import of services, the main share is occupied by travel (tourism - 51.0%), transport services (21.0%), telecommunications, computer and information services (10.2%), as well as other business services (5.6%) .

In addition, other services accounted for 12.1% of total imports, including a high share of fees for the use of intellectual property not classified as other categories (4.3%), maintenance and repair services not classified as other categories (3.1%), insurance and pension services (1.8%), etc.

According to the results of January-May 2024, in the structure of imports, the volume of industrial goods reached US$2.41 billion and decreased, compared to the same period in 2023, by 1.0%, in general, the share in the total volume of imports amounted to 15.2%.

The main imports of industrial goods are iron and steel (US$1.08 billion), metal products (US$336.7 million), textile yarn, fabrics, finished products (US$220.0 million), rubber products (US$177.5 million) and etc.