Uzbekistan’s foreign trade turnover in January-February amounted to $9.19 billion, increasing year-on-year by 10.5%, the Statistics Committee reports.

The volume of exports increased by 13.6% – to $3.63 billion. At the same time, imports amounted to $6.28 billion, which is only 8.7% more than last year. The foreign trade deficit widened slightly and reached $2.65 billion.

Last month, Uzbekistan exported gold worth $1.31 billion. In January-February 2023, supplies of the precious metal brought in $1.18 billion.

China remains the republic’s largest trading partner, trade turnover with which almost doubled, amounting to $2.13 billion. Of this, $1.78 million was the import of goods and services – the main importer on the Uzbekistan market.

The second position is occupied by Russia with $1.76 billion, of which exports amounted to $493.4 million – the main market for Uzbek products. This is followed by Kazakhstan ($581.5 million), Turkey ($435.5 million) and South Korea ($386.8 million).

Export

Excluding gold, manufactured goods remain the largest commodity export item – $610.7 million. However, their supplies decreased by 0.4%.

Revenue from the export of textiles and fabrics increased by 5.6% and amounted to $360.2 million. Supplies of non-ferrous metals fell by 7.4% to $164.4 million.

The volume of exports of chemical products increased by 54.6%, amounting to $240.9 million. Inorganic substances showed a two-fold increase – to $147.2 million. Supplies of plastics ($37.8 million) and fertilizers ($33.5 million) also increased significantly.

Third place was taken by food exports with $236.9 million (+6.6%). More than half of the supplies came from the fruit and vegetable group ($154 million, +25.9%), and among the remaining export volume, grains brought in $65.1 million (-20%).

Exports of consumer goods amounted to $185.5 million (-5.5%). Shipments of apparel items increased to $152.4 million (-5.4%), and various ready-to-wear products approached $20 million (+61.8%).

In the mechanical engineering category, there was a drop of 9.8% to $128.2 million. If the export of automobiles decreased by 8% ($40.9 million), and the supply of electronics decreased by 10.3% ($29.5 million), then the export of industrial machinery and equipment increased by 13.5% and reached $152.7 million.

At the same time, exports of raw materials increased. Thus, hydrocarbon supplies increased almost threefold – to $109.9 million. Gas saw a fourfold increase to $26.7 million, and petroleum products increased threefold – to $67.1 million

Import

In the structure of imports of goods, engineering products lead the way with $2.44 billion (+2.4%). Deliveries of automobiles tripled ($718.3 million), electrical equipment - by 84.4% ($324.2 million), electrical equipment – by 66.6% ($176.1 million).

Second place is occupied by manufactured goods – $1.13 billion, the supply of which increased by 32.2%. In this category, imports increased significantly for iron and steel (73.4%), metal products (19.9%) and non-ferrous metals (16.1%).

Imports of chemical products decreased by 7.3% – to $739.6 million. Costs on medical goods amounted to $305.3 million (-1.4%), chemical materials – $128.8 million (+41.4%), plastics – $105.4 million (-15%).

Imports of foreign food decreased by 6.9% and amounted to $534.7 million. The supply of grain products amounted to $148.7 million (-33.3%), vegetables and fruits – $99.2 million (+73.6%), sugar and confectionery – $60.7 million (-31%).

In addition, supplies of fuel and fuels and lubricants increased by 62.7% – to $547.9 million. Imports of natural gas from Russia and Turkmenistan soared by 95.6 times, reaching $166.7 million. Coal supplies increased by half ($42 million), oil and petroleum products – by 5.3% ($302.9 million).