Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In January-February 2020, the foreign trade turnover of Uzbekistan reached US$5.92 billion, which, compared to the same period of last year, decreased by US$190.0 million.

Of the total foreign trade turnover (FTT), exports reached US$2.63 billion (compared to January-February 2019, a decrease of 4.2% was noted), and imports - US$3.28 billion (a decrease of 2.2% ). A passive balance of foreign trade in the amount of US$657.5 million was recorded.

Significant changes were achieved in the structure of exports as a result of an increase in the production of products that replaced imported goods and the diversification of industrial production.

Uzbekistan has trade relations with more than 145 countries of the world. The largest volume of its foreign trade turnover among them was recorded with China (16.6%), the Russian Federation (16.1%), Kazakhstan (7.0%), the Republic of Korea (6.3%), Turkey (5.3%), Germany (1.8%) and Kyrgyzstan (1.7%).

In addition, there is a strengthening of relations with neighboring countries, and a lot of work is being done to develop relations in the socio-economic, commercial, industrial and cultural spheres with these countries.

In particular, in recent years, significant changes in the FTT have been observed with neighboring states, for example, such as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The presence of an active foreign trade balance with Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan can be considered as a positive result in the country's foreign trade.

The largest volume of the FTT with other states (except neighboring countries) falls on China, Russia, the Republic of Korea and Turkey.

Among the 20 major partner countries in foreign economic activity, there is also an active foreign trade balance with six countries, in particular with Afghanistan (US$99.4 million), Kyrgyzstan (US$60.4 million), Tajikistan (US$49.6 million), Turkey (US$25.1 million), Iran (US$16.8 million) and France (US$10.9 million). With the remaining 14 countries, a passive balance of foreign trade is maintained.

One third of the FTT volume falls on the CIS countries and, in recent years, there is a tendency to increase this indicator. This, in turn, indicates the expansion of foreign economic relations with the CIS countries.

As a result of measures taken by the government of the republic to strengthen cooperation with the CIS countries and comprehensive support of foreign trade, the growth rate of foreign trade of the CIS countries, compared to the same period of 2019, reached 0.4% and their share in foreign trade, according to the results of January-February 2020, amounted to 31.8%.

The volume of foreign trade turnover of non-CIS countries in January-February 2020 decreased (growth rate - 95.3%) and amounted to 68.2% of the total foreign trade turnover.

As you know, the development of international economic relations contributes to the sustainable economic growth of exports in order to achieve certain results. The reforms implemented to increase the country's export potential, state support for exporters and expand the range of export-oriented products allowed increasing the number of exporting entities (their total number was 2,716 units) and this ensured that the volume of exports excluding special exports reached US$1.62 billion (growth, compared to the same period in 2019, was 7.3%).

In the export structure, 82.4% is occupied by goods, which mainly account for industrial products (26.6%), mineral fuels, lubricating oils and similar materials (15.6%), food products and live animals (7.4%), chemicals and similar products (6.7%), and non-food raw materials except fuel (5.7%).

There is a difference in the direction of exports of goods and services between the CIS countries and other foreign countries. Thus, 21.7% of exports to the CIS countries are primarily services, followed by industrial goods, mineral fuels, lubricants and similar materials, as well as various finished products.

During the reporting period, the export of animals, vegetable oil, drinks, tobacco, mineral fuels, lubricants and similar products to the CIS countries increased most rapidly, the decrease was primarily noted in the export of chemicals, non-food raw materials, food products and live animals.

Analysis of the structure of exported goods and services in January-February 2020, sent to other countries, showed that, compared with January-February 2019, the volume of exports of drinks, tobacco, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals and similar products, as well as non-food raw materials decreased.

Over the past three years, the volume of exports to the CIS countries has increased and their share in its total volume has increased from 22.2% in 2018 to 25.9% in 2020. Accordingly, the share in the total exports of other foreign countries amounted to 74.1%.

Compared with January-February 2018-2019, our main partners in the export of goods and services in foreign trade in January-February 2020 were such countries as the Russian Federation (12.9% of total exports), China (11.0%), Turkey (6.5%), Kazakhstan (4.3%), Afghanistan (3.8%), Kyrgyzstan (3.1%) and Tajikistan (2.4%). Their share in total exports exceeded 44.0%.

In January-February 2020, among the seven major partner countries for the export of goods and services, the Russian Federation regained its place in the share of exports. The geography of partner countries for the export of goods and services, compared with the same period in 2019, increased from 123 to 132 countries.

The largest volume of exported goods among major partner countries are mineral fuel, lubricating oil and similar materials, industrial goods, and various finished products.

The volume of services exports in January-February 2020 made up US$464.3 million, or 17.6% of its total volume and increased, compared to the same period in 2019, by 12.6%. Due to 1.2-fold growth over the past three years, the share of services in total exports increased by 2.0% points. In the export of services, the largest share are occupied by transport services (54.8%) and travel (tourism) (35.4%).

The rest include telecommunication, computer and information services (4.5%), construction services (2.1%) and others (3.2%), in particular, such as state-owned goods and services not elsewhere classified, financial services, etc.

The volume of exports of fruits and vegetables in physical terms amounted to more than 154.5 thousand tons and, in value terms, exceeded US$80.6 million (growth rates, compared to the same period in 2019, amounted to 86.5% and 80.0% respectively). Of these, 121.8 thousand tons of vegetables were exported in the amount of US$43.6 million, as well as 32.7 thousand tons of fruits and berries in the amount of US$37.0 million (growth rates in value terms, compared with the same period in 2019, respectively, amounted to 82.0% and 90.6%).

The main export markets for fruits and vegetables are in Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Due to the fact that the government pays considerable attention to the development of agriculture and horticulture, the quality and volume of exported goods are increasing from year to year. So, in January-February 2020, the share of fruits and vegetables in total exports amounted to 3.1%.

The largest volume in value terms of export of fruits and vegetables falls on Kazakhstan (27.4% of the total volume of fruits and vegetables), which exceeds the volume of exports to the Russian Federation by 3.1 times.

The increase in textile exports can directly be seen as a result of reforms to produce finished products and create added value in return for the production of raw cotton. For example, in January-February 2020, textile products were exported in the amount of US$313.2 million, which amounted to 11.9% of the total exports and, compared with January-February 2019, it increased by 1.4 times.

In the structure of textile exports, the main share accounted for cotton yarn (51.1%), as well as finished knitwear and garments (26.0%). In January-February 2020, more than 277 types of textile products were exported to 44 countries.

As a result of practical work to diversify the textile industry of the republic and stimulate the export of finished products, our country's potential in this area is growing.

The largest share of textile exports falls on the Russian Federation (US$122.4 million - 39.1%), China (US$62.0 million - 19.8%) and Turkey (US$40.2 million - 12.8%).

During the reporting period, imports amounted to US$3,288.8 million (a decrease in the growth rate compared to January-February 2019 was 2.2%).

The main share in its structure is occupied by machinery and transport equipment (37.8%), industrial goods (15.1%), as well as services (11.7%).

An analysis of the dynamics of imports of goods and services also showed that in January-February 2020, compared with January-February 2019, the volume of imports of goods decreased by US$144.8 million and amounted to US$2.9 billion and imports of services reached US$383.9 million.

The largest share of imports of beverages, tobacco (98.7%), various finished products (94.6%), as well as machinery and transport equipment (79.5%) falls on the CIS countries, while in other foreign countries the largest share falls on non-food raw materials (70.5%) and industrial goods (69.2%).

An analysis of the structure of imported goods and services in January-February 2020 also showed that, compared to January-February 2019, the share of imports of non-food raw materials increased from 4.1% to 6.1%, and the share of food products, live animals, industrial goods decreased from 8.5% to 6.2%, from 16.3% to 15.1%, respectively.

An analysis of the share of imports of services also showed that in January-February 2020, compared with January-February 2019, it increased from 9.3% to 11.7%.

The main factor in the decline in food imports is observed due to sugar, sugar products and honey (by 41.1%), cereals and their products (by 37.0%), drinks (by 34.7%) vegetables and fruits (20.0%), various food products and preparations (10.7%).

The decline in imports of mineral fuels, lubricating oils and similar products occurred due to a decrease in imports of crude oil and bitumen (by 20.7%).

In dynamics, a stable ratio of the share of imports with the CIS countries and other foreign countries remains, which, within, is the ratio of 36.5:63.5.

At the end of the reporting period, the first place among the major partner countries for imports kept the China with share of imports in the total volume of 21.0% and the Russian Federation, which, with a share of 18.7%, is in second place.

In general, in January-February 2020, goods and services from 118 countries were imported into the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Seven major partner countries (China, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Germany and Lithuania) in the total volume of imports have a share of 69.3%, which amounts to US$2.28 billion.

As the investment climate in the country improves and as a result of reforms implemented in this area, the growth in imports of machinery and transport equipment is natural. So, taking into account large volumes of investments from China, 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-February 2020 amounted to US$383.9 million, or 11.7% of its total volume and increased by 22.2% compared to the same period in 2019. The main share in the import of services are travel (tourism-68.4%) and transport services (14.2%).

Other types of services include fees for the use of intellectual property (not elsewhere classified) (7.5%) telecommunication, computer, information (4.3%), other business services (2.5%), and other services.

According to the results of January-February 2020, the volume of imports of building materials in its total volume amounted to 4.9% and reached US$160.6 million.

The main share in its structure is wood and products from it (53.6%), glass and products from it (6.0%), cement (4.9%), as well as asbestos (2.0%).

In general, the volume of imports of building materials in January-February 2020, compared to 2019, decreased (a decrease of 15.8%).

The growth in imports of building materials, compared with previous years, is directly related to large-scale reforms in the field of improvement, in particular housing construction, reconstruction and improvement of settlements.

The FTT partnership with the countries listed above can be regarded as the result of visits by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan over the past three years to 15 countries, in particular, signed mutually beneficial bilateral agreements with partner countries.