Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- According to the results of January-August 2020, the foreign trade turnover (FTT) of Uzbekistan reached US$24.54 billion, compared to the same period of last year, decreased by US$3.55 billion, the State Statistics Committee said in a report.

Of the total volume of the FTT, exports made up US$11.61 billion (a decrease of 4.1% was noted against January-August 2019), and imports – US$12.93 billion US dollars (a decrease of 19.1%). As a result, the balance of foreign trade turnover made up a passive balance in the amount of US$1.32 billion.

Nowadays, Uzbekistan carries out trade relations with more than 160 countries of the world. The largest volume of foreign trade turnover was recorded with the PRC (16.4%), the Russian Federation (14.6%), Kazakhstan (7.2%), the Republic of Korea (5.9%), Turkey (5.0%), Kyrgyzstan (2.3%) and Germany (2.0%).

The necessary resource base has been created in the republic to ensure stable and uninterrupted operation of enterprises and branches of the real economy. As a result of an increase in the production of products that replaced imported goods, and the diversification of industrial production, significant transformations have been achieved in the structure of exports.

In particular, in recent years there have been significant changes in the FTT with neighboring states, for example, with such as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Among the 20 large partner countries in foreign economic activity, there is also an active foreign trade balance with four countries, in particular with such countries as Afghanistan (US$461.8 million), Kyrgyzstan (US$394.5 million), Tajikistan (US$193.1 million) and Iran (US$39.6 million). One third of the FTT volume falls on the CIS countries and, in recent years, this indicator has changed slightly.

Despite the measures taken to strengthen cooperation with the CIS countries and comprehensive support for foreign trade, the share of foreign trade turnover of the CIS countries, compared to the same period in 2019, decreased by 3.4%. Over the same period of 2018, a decrease was noted by 8.7% and their share in foreign trade turnover, at the end of January-August 2020, made up 29.9%

The volume of foreign trade turnover of other states in January-August 2020, compared to the same period in 2018-2019 (61.4% and 66.7%, respectively), increased and made up 70.1% of the total volume of foreign trade turnover.

In January-August this year, the total number of exporters made up 5 140 units and this ensured the increase in the volume of exports, excluding special exports, to US$5.8 billion (a decrease, compared to the same period in 2019, was 28.9%).

In the structure of exports, 88.7% are goods, which mainly fall on industrial products (15.0%), food products and live animals (6.8%), chemicals and similar products (4.6%).

There is a difference in the direction of export of goods and services between the CIS countries and other foreign countries. Thus, 21.3% of exports to the CIS countries are primarily accounted for by the export of industrial goods, then, in terms of volume, there are services and food products, as well as various finished products.

During the reporting period, the fastest growing was the export of various finished products, beverages, tobacco, animal and vegetable oil, machinery and transport equipment, as well as industrial goods to the CIS countries, a decrease was primarily noted in the export of mineral fuels, lubricants and similar materials, other goods and food.

Analysis of the structure of exported goods and services sent to other countries in January-August 2020 showed that, compared to January-August 2019, the volume of exports, machinery and transport equipment, mineral fuels, lubricating oils and similar materials, non-food raw materials, services, food and live animals, industrial products, and various finished products fell.

Over the past three years, the volume of exports to the CIS countries has decreased and their share in its total volume has decreased from 38.4% to 22.5%. Accordingly, the share in the total export volume of other foreign countries increased from 61.6% to 77.5%.

Compared to January-August 2018-2019, our main partners in the export of goods and services to the FTT in January-August 2020 were countries such as the PRC (10.3% of total exports), the Russian Federation (8.0 %), Turkey (4.8%), Kazakhstan (4.8%), Kyrgyzstan (4.1%), Afghanistan (4.0%) and Tajikistan (2.2%). Their share in the total export volume reached 38.2%.

In January-August 2020, among the seven major partner countries for the export of goods and services, as in the previous year, the PRC retains its leading position. The next position is taken by the Russian Federation. Turkey, slightly yielding in volume to Kazakhstan, dropped from the third position to the fourth.

The geography of partner countries for the export of goods and services, compared to the same period in 2019, decreased from 166 to 143 countries.

The largest volume of exported goods among large partner countries is made up of mineral fuels, lubricants and similar materials, industrial goods, as well as non-food raw materials, except for fuel.

The volume of exports of services in January-August 2020 made up US$1.31 billion, or 11.3% of the total trade export and decreased, compared to the same period in 2019, by 41.3%.

In connection with the introduced COVID-19 quarantine in Uzbekistan since March of this year compared to the same period in 2019, there is a decrease in the rate of tourism services by 76.2%, transport by 21.4%, financial services by 36.9%. The lion’s share of the export of services is taken by transport services (68.5%), travel (tourism) (15.6%), telecommunications, computer and information services (8.5%). At the same time, other services (7.4%) account for the largest share, respectively, for business (3.0%), construction (2.2%) and financial services (0.9%).

The fruit and vegetable sector in Uzbekistan is an important segment in ensuring the food security of the country and regions. Therefore, in this area, all kinds of measures are being taken to accelerate the development of the production of fruit and vegetable products, which are yielding results. 

Thus, the volume of exports of fruit and vegetables made up 979.8 thousand tons and, in value terms, exceeded 595.6 million US dollars (the rate of decline, compared to the same period in 2019, was 31.5%, respectively). Of these, 558.8 thousand tons of vegetables were exported in the amount of US$235.1 million, as well as 257.9 thousand tons of fruits and berries in the amount of US$249.1 million (the rate of decline in value terms, compared to the same period in 2019, respectively, made up 34.4% and 18.6%).

The main export markets for fruits and vegetables are in Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan.

Such branches of agriculture as horticulture, horticulture and viticulture developed at an accelerated pace. Thus, in January-August 2020, the share of fruits and vegetables in total exports made up 5.1%.

The potential of the sector of production, processing and export of fruit and vegetable products in Uzbekistan today is quite high, and this is due not only to the presence of favorable natural and climatic conditions, but also to the accumulation of experience by local producers. In this regard, the government pays significant attention to the deepening of industrial processing of agricultural raw materials and the development of storage infrastructure for the grown product.

The largest volume in value terms of exports of fruits and vegetables falls on Kazakhstan (29.3% of the total volume of fruits and vegetables), which exceeds the volume of exports to the Russian Federation by 1.0 times.

The increase in the volume of exports of textile products can be directly considered as a result of reforms in the production of finished products and the formation of added value instead of the production of raw cotton. For example, according to the results of January-August 2020, the export of textile products was carried out in the amount of US$1.17 billion, which made up 10.1% of the total export volume and, compared to January-August 2019, it increased by 11.6%.

In the structure of export of textile products, the main share is taken by cotton yarn (47.9%), as well as finished knitwear and garments (28.8%).

In January-August 2020, more than 429 types of textile products were exported to 58 countries.

As a result of practical work to diversify the textile industry of the republic and stimulate the export of finished products, the potential of our country is increasing.

The largest share of textile exports falls on the Russian Federation (US$433.5 million - 37.1%), China (US$228.8 million - 19.6%) and Kyrgyzstan (US$172.9 million - 14.8%).

During the reporting period, the total volume of imports made up US$12.93 billion (a decrease in the growth rate, compared to January-August 2019, was 19.1%).

The main share in the structure of imports is occupied by machinery and transport equipment (37.8%), manufactured goods (17.1%), as well as chemicals and similar products (13.8%).

The analysis of the dynamics of imports of goods and services also showed that in January-August 2020, compared to the same period in 2019, the volume of imports of goods decreased by US$2.24 billion and made up US$12.16 billion and imports of services reached US$765.2 million.

An analysis of the structure of imported goods and services in January-August 2020 also showed that, compared with January-August 2019, the share of imports of industrial goods increased from 16.6% to 17.1%, chemicals and similar products - from 10.8% to 13.8%, food products and live animals - from 6.5% to 8.3%, various finished products - from 5.9% to 6.0%, machinery and transport equipment decreased from 40.7% to 37.8%, services - from 9.9% to 5.9%, non-food raw materials - from 4.4% to 4.1%, respectively. The analysis of imports of services also showed that in January-August 2020, compared to the same period in 2019, the share in the total volume of imports decreased from 9.9% to 5.9%.

The decrease in the volume of imports of food products and live animals is due to sugar, sugar products and honey (by 9.4%).

There is also a decrease in the volume of imports for manufactured goods, metal products (by 29.9%), products from nonmetallic minerals (by 28.9%).

In recent months, the dynamics of the stabilization of the share of imports with the CIS countries and other foreign countries has been noted, which, within the limits, is a ratio of 36.6:63.4.

It should be noted that countries such as the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Kyrgyzstan and Poland are among the top twenty in terms of exports of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Compared to the same period in 2019, the top six import partner countries have not changed. In general, at the end of January-August 2020, goods and services from 137 countries were imported to the Republic of Uzbekistan. One third of imports (US$9.48 billion US dollars) is accounted for by such large partner countries as the PRC (the share in total imports is 22.0%), the Russian Federation (20.5%), the Republic of Korea (11.0%), Kazakhstan (9.4%), Turkey (5.2%), Germany (3.4%) and Lithuania (1.9%).

As the investment climate in the country improves and as a result of reforms implemented in this area, it is natural to increase the import of machinery and transport equipment. Thus, taking into account the large volumes of investments from the PRC, Korea, Russia, Germany and Turkey, a high share of these countries in the volume of imports of these products remains.

The volume of imports of services in January-August 2020 made up US$765.2 million, or 5.9% of its total volume and decreased, compared to the same period in 2019, by 51.6%. Travel (tourism - 41.3%), transport services (14.7%) and other business services (14.4%) account for the main share of imports of services. In addition, other services accounted for 29.6% of total imports of services, including a high share in telecommunications, computer and information services (10.6%), fees for the use of intellectual property (7.2%), construction services (5.9%), etc.

At the end of January-August 2020, the volume of imports of building materials in its total volume made up 5.5% and reached US$715.7 million. In its structure, the main share is occupied by wood and wood products (47.9%), cement (9.4%), glass and glass products (5.5%), as well as asbestos (2.8%).

In general, the volume of imports of building materials in January-August 2020, compared to 2019, decreased (a decrease of 18.4%). Based on the foregoing, it should be noted that the growth in imports of building materials, compared with previous years, is directly related to largescale reforms in the field of improvement, in particular, housing construction, reconstruction and improvement of settlements.

The largest volumes of imports of building materials were recorded for wood and wood products. Thus, in January-August 2020, imports for these commodity items made up US$342.7 million (a decrease of 14.6%).

The most noticeable decrease was noted for cement, the supply of which decreased by more than 1.8 times - from US$120.3 million in January-August 2019 to US$67.6 million in the reporting period of the current year.