Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — In January-December 2024, Uzbekistan’s foreign trade turnover amounted to US$65.9 billion, increasing by US$2.4 billion (3.8%) compared to the same period in 2023, according to the Statistics Agency.

Of the total foreign trade turnover, exports amounted to US$26.95 billion (an 8.4% increase compared to January-December 2023), and imports reached US$38.98 billion (a 0.8% increase). As a result, the foreign trade balance showed a negative value of -US$12.04 billion.

Kazakhstan emerged as one of Uzbekistan’s largest trade partners, following China and Russia.

Currently, Uzbekistan maintains trade relations with 198 countries. The largest volumes of foreign trade are recorded with China (18.9%), Russia (17.6%), Kazakhstan (6.5%), Turkey (4.5%), and South Korea (3.0%).

In the structure of foreign trade turnover, a significant share is concentrated in Tashkent, amounting to 38.4% or US$25.33 billion, while the smallest share is observed in the Surkhandarya region, at 0.6%, or US$416.1 million.

The share of CIS countries in the foreign trade turnover, compared to the same period in 2023, increased by 2.2%, reaching 35.1% in total.

The volume of foreign trade turnover with other countries decreased by 2.2% compared to the same period in 2023 and constituted 64.9% of the total turnover.

In January-December 2024, Uzbekistan’s foreign trade turnover with CIS countries reached US$23.12 billion, with exports totaling US$9.06 billion and imports amounting to US$14.05 billion.

The largest foreign trade volumes with CIS countries were recorded with Russia (50.3%), Kazakhstan (18.5%), and Turkmenistan (5.0%).

The foreign trade turnover with EAEU countries in the reported period amounted to US$17.5 billion, including US$5.83 billion in exports and US$11.66 billion in imports.

The number of exporters reached 7,756, and the export of goods and services amounted to US$19.47 billion (excluding non-monetary gold), marking a 16.5% increase compared to the same period in 2023.

In the export structure, goods accounted for 73.3%, including other goods (28.0%), industrial products (15.6%), food products and live animals (8.1%), and chemicals and similar products (6.3%).

The share of exports to CIS countries in January-December 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, increased by 0.3%.

The main partners in the export of goods and services in the foreign trade turnover for January-December 2024 were Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Afghanistan, France, and Tajikistan, accounting for 40.1% of total exports.

A significant share of exports comes from Tashkent, with 20.5% or US$5.52 billion, while the smallest share is observed in the Jizzakh region, at 0.8%, or US$208.1 million.

During January-December 2024, 2.03 million tons of fruit and vegetable products were exported, which represents a 15.8% increase (278.5 thousand tons) compared to the same period in 2023.

The export value of fruit and vegetable products in this period amounted to US$1.55 billion, with a 31.2% increase compared to the same period in 2023, constituting 5.8% of total exports.

The main markets for fruit and vegetable exports were Russia (42.1%), Kazakhstan (12.7%), Pakistan (12.6%), and Afghanistan (8.0%).

In terms of value, the largest export of fruit and vegetable products in January-December 2024 went to Russia, accounting for 40.0% of the total volume, which exceeds the export volume from Kyrgyzstan by 5.4 times.

In January-December 2024, textile exports amounted to US$2.87 billion, or 10.6% of total exports, showing a 6.7% decrease compared to the same period in 2023.

In the textile export structure, the largest share was in yarn (43.2%) and ready-made textile products (39.2%).

Service exports for January-December 2024 totaled US$7.2 billion, or 26.7% of total trade exports, reflecting a 27.7% increase compared to the same period in 2023.

The largest share of services exports was from tourism (48.8%), followed by transport services (35.7%), telecommunications, computer, and information services (8.6%), and other business services (3.5%).

Meanwhile, the largest share of other services (3.5%) included insurance and pension services (0.9%), financial services (0.9%), construction services (0.5%), and others.

For January-December 2024, imports totaled US$38.98 billion, reflecting a 0.8% increase compared to January-December 2023.

The largest share in the import structure was occupied by machinery and transport equipment (34.6%), industrial products (15.5%), and chemicals and similar products (12.0%).

An analysis of the dynamics of goods imports showed that in January-December 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, the volume of goods imports decreased by US$337.0 million, totaling US$35.24 billion, while services imports amounted to US$3.75 billion.

The share of imports from CIS countries, compared to the same period in 2023, increased by 3.5%, reaching 36.1% by the end of January-December 2024.

Overall, imports into Uzbekistan came from 172 countries, with over two-thirds of imports originating from major partner countries such as China, Russia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Germany.

Tashkent accounted for 50.8% of total imports, or US$19.81 billion, while the smallest share was observed in the Surkhandarya region, at 0.4%, or US$146.6 million.

Imports of services in January-December 2024 amounted to US$3.75 billion, or 9.6% of the total volume, reflecting a 21.5% increase compared to the same period in 2023.

In the import structure, the largest share was occupied by tourism services (50.9%), followed by transport services (19.2%), telecommunications, computer, and information services (9.2%), and other business services (7.3%).

Additionally, the share of other services accounted for 13.3% of total services imports, including intellectual property usage fees (3.8%), technical maintenance and repairs (3.1%), construction services (2.9%), and others.

For January-December 2024, the import volume of industrial products amounted to US$6.05 billion, reflecting a 4.2% decrease compared to the same period in 2023, with a share of 15.5% in total imports.

The main imported industrial products included cast iron and steel (US$2.66 billion), metal products (US$814.7 million), textile yarn, fabrics, and ready-made products (US$582.1 million), rubber products (US$457.9 million), and others.