Golden opportunities for exporting to Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan has made significant progress in transforming its economy and society since 2017. The Uzbek government is now moving into the next phase of economic reforms to address structural constraints, such as the lack of factor markets and the state’s economic dominance over the economy. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks in part to reforms to liberalize prices and remove barriers to domestic and international trade, the country’s economy was one of the few in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region to avoid negative growth in 2020. Although the global financial crisis has hardly directly affected the domestic financial sector, it has reduced exports, remittances and investment due to slower economic growth in Russia, Kazakhstan and some of Uzbekistan’s other major trading partners. For example, total trade in goods and services (imports and exports to Uzbekistan) between the UK and Uzbekistan was £358 million in the four quarters ending in Q3 2021, up 100% on the four quarters ending in Q3 2020.

Uzbekistan’s Economic Future

The government of Uzbekistan has announced its goal of halving poverty by 2026 and achieving upper-middle-income status by 2030. The country’s GDP growth has been driven largely by favorable terms of trade for its main export commodities, such as copper, gold, natural gas, and cotton, and by the government’s macroeconomic management. In 2021, the country’s GDP is expected to grow by 6.2 percent. However, the following factors are also influencing it:

Global economic conditions

Reducing government control over the economy

Progress in structural reforms to boost private sector growth

Uzbekistan’s main competitive goods

Uzbekistan is now the world’s fifth-largest cotton exporter and is also known as the world’s seventh-largest gold producer. The country is also a major producer of natural gas, coal, copper, oil, silver, and uranium in the region. It has been a major supplier of fruit and vegetable products. The main goods exported from Uzbekistan are: energy, cotton, gold, mineral fertilizers, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, textiles, food products, machinery and vehicles.

Foreign trade with Uzbekistan

Since independence, Uzbekistan has gradually begun to reform, and international trade plays an important role for the country. The main import substitution policy is strong support for the domestic market and strongly supports the export of its goods. The main imported goods of Uzbekistan are food products, chemicals, metals (ferrous and non-ferrous), machinery and equipment. The global financial crisis has slowed down exports to Uzbekistan in recent years, but since the first quarter of 2010, the growth of income and export markets has begun to increase as a result of high commodity prices and reforms to reduce the tax burden, as well as the good performance of gold exports. Natural gas exports also supported the implementation of the country’s anti-crisis program. At that time, the government preferred to export gas in foreign currency instead of selling it on the domestic market at subsidized prices and in local currency; Because the revenue from gas exports was crucial for financing the industrial sector projects initiated by the government.

Top 10 exporting countries to Uzbekistan

China (22.2%)
Russia (20.4%)
Kazakhstan (10.5%)
South Korea (9.7%)
Turkey (5.47%)
Germany (3.5%)
Lithuania (2.4%)
Czech Republic (2.3%)
India (2.1%)
Turkmenistan (2%)

The most important commodity groups for exports to Uzbekistan

The most important commodity groups exported to Uzbekistan in 2020 are:

Machinery, mechanical appliances, nuclear reactors, boilers; parts thereof
Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock and parts and accessories thereof
Iron and steel
Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, televisions. . .
Pharmaceutical products
Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; Bituminous materials; mineral . . .
Plastics and articles thereof
Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, surveying, precision, medical or surgical. . .
Grains, wood and articles of wood; charcoal

Iran’s share of exports to Uzbekistan

Exports to Uzbekistan by Iran in the first 9 months of 2021 received an amount equivalent to $ 30.3 million for the export of fruit and vegetable products to Uzbekistan. This figure has increased significantly compared to the previous year, as the same products were exported in 2020 for an amount of about $ 5.4 million. During the reporting period, Uzbekistan mainly increased its imports of potatoes. From January to September 2021, 126.4 thousand tons of Iranian potatoes worth $ 17.6 million were delivered to Uzbekistan. In addition to potatoes, Iran has also sharply increased its supply of dates to Uzbekistan (by 5.4 times). During the first 9 months of 2021, more than 6.9 thousand tons of Iranian dates were imported to Uzbekistan. During the specified period, Iranian kiwi supplies to Uzbekistan have doubled, pistachio exports have increased by 60 percent, fresh apples by 20 percent, and garlic by 2.2 times compared to last year.