Following the results of 2019, foreign trade turnover of Uzbekistan amounted to $42.2 billion, an increase of $8.7 billion compared to the same period of 2018 (growth – 26.2%), the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade (MIFT) reported.
In particular, the export of domestic goods and services to foreign countries grew by $3.9 billion, or by 28% compared to 2018, and amounted to $17.9 billion.
The bulk of exports accounted for products from precious and semiprecious metals – $5.1 billion (28.5% of total exports), services – $3.6 billion (19.9%), energy – $2.5 billion (14.1%), textile products – $1.6 billion (9.1%), food products – $1.5 billion (8.5%), non-ferrous metals and products from them – $951.3 million (5.3%), chemical products and products from them – $876.9 million (4.9%), ferrous metals and products from them – $349.6 million (2%).
During 2019, 2,700 new enterprises were involved in export activities, which ensured additional exports in the amount of more than $1 billion. In addition, the implementation of 206 new products to the markets of 42 countries has been mastered.
The import indicator grew by $4.8 billion, reaching $24.3 billion, which is 25% more than in 2018.
The main import items were mechanical equipment – $5.6 billion (23.1% of total imports), vehicles and spare parts – $2.6 billion (10.8%), services – $2.4 billion (10%), ferrous metals and products from them – $2.2 billion (9.1%), electrical equipment – $1.3 billion (5.5%), food products – $1.2 billion (5.2%), energy – $928.1 million (3.8%), pharmaceuticals – $926.8 million (3.8%), wood and wood products – $903.7 million (3.7%) , chemical products – $843.5 million (3.5%), plastics and products from them - $811.7 million (3.3%) and more.
The number of foreign trade partners of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the reporting period amounted to 178. Currently, China ($7.6 billion or 18.1%), Russia ($6.6 billion or 15.7%), Kazakhstan ($3.3 or 8%), the Republic of Korea ($2.7 billion or 6.5%), Turkey ($2.5 billion or 6%), Germany ($980 million or 2.3%), Kyrgyzstan ($829 million or 2% ), Afghanistan ($618 million or 1.5%) and the United States ($596 million or 1.4%) are the leaders in terms of trade turnover.
In January-December 2019, the trade volume with the CIS countries amounted to $14.6 billion, an increase of 20% compared to last year. In this context, the main trading partners were Russia (46% of the total trade with the CIS countries), Kazakhstan (23%), Kyrgyzstan (6%) and Turkmenistan (4%).
The trade turnover with neighboring countries also increased markedly – the growth was 25% compared to 2018: in real terms, exports reached $3.2 billion, while imports reached $2.6 billion.
Among the 20 major partner countries for foreign economic activity, there is a positive balance of foreign trade with 5 countries: Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Iran and France.
