Uzbekistan Foreign Trade Reaches US$32.8 Billion in Five Months

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Uzbekistan's foreign trade turnover for January-May 2026 amounted to US$32.8 billion, increasing by US$1.2 billion, or 3.7%, compared to the same period last year, the National Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Statistics reported.

Exports during the reporting period stood at US$12.6 billion, down 15.5% compared to January-May 2025, while imports grew by 20.8% to reach US$20.1 billion. As a result, the negative foreign trade balance amounted to US$7.5 billion, which is nearly three times higher than the previous year when the deficit stood at US$1.7 billion. Meanwhile, exports of goods excluding gold increased by 29.4% to US$6.5 billion, indicating a reduction in the dependence of non-commodity exports on gold.

The decline in total exports is explained by a sharp drop in deliveries of non-monetary gold from US$6.5 billion to US$1.5 billion, representing a 76.8% decrease. The share of gold in total exports shrank from 43.4% last year to 11.9% in the current year. Against this background, other commodity categories demonstrated notable growth. Exports of various manufactured goods nearly doubled, increasing by 99.7% to US$1.06 billion; chemical exports grew by 37.6% to US$1.05 billion; and exports of industrial goods rose by 18% to US$1.9 billion, primarily driven by textile products (US$747.8 million) and non-ferrous metals (US$721.5 million). Exports of machinery and transport equipment increased by 38.2% to US$536 million.

Services exports showed particularly dynamic growth, rising 34.9% to US$4.6 billion, accounting for 36.3% of total exports compared to 22.8% a year earlier. Within the structure of services exports, the largest shares were held by travel (48.9%, US$2.24 billion) and transport services (36.2%, US$1.66 billion), followed by telecommunications, computer, and information services (9.6%, US$441.8 million).

Textile product exports for January-May totaled US$1.3 billion, increasing by 20.1% and reaching 10% of total exports. Within the structure of textile exports, the main shares were comprised of finished textile products (50.8%) and yarn (32.3%).

Fruit and vegetable exports grew by 2.7% to US$635.8 million, although the physical volume of deliveries decreased by 0.8% to 736,000 tonnes. The export of dried apricots noticeably increased, more than doubling in value to US$22.7 million, while grape exports nearly doubled to US$11.4 million. Among vegetables, the leaders were cabbage (133,900 tonnes, US$51.5 million) and onions (167,500 tonnes, US$48.9 million), though the physical volumes of onion exports declined.

Among partner countries in total foreign trade turnover, the leaders are China (23.4%), Russia (17.6%), Kazakhstan (6.9%), Türkiye (3.7%), and Afghanistan (2.8%); in total, Uzbekistan conducts trade with more than 185 countries. The main partners directly for the export of goods and services were Russia (14.9%), China (9.2%), Afghanistan (6.5%), France (5.0%), Kazakhstan (4.5%), Türkiye (4.0%), Hong Kong (3.0%), the UAE (2.7%), and Kyrgyzstan (2.7%)—together, these countries accounted for more than half of all exports.

In the structure of imports, the main share was occupied by machinery and transport equipment, accounting for 33.1% of the total volume, or US$6.66 billion, with a growth of 20.5%. In this category, the most notable increases were seen in the import of automobiles (US$1.55 billion, a 25% increase, of which passenger cars accounted for US$599.8 million with an 84.4% growth) and electrical machinery and equipment (US$1.16 billion, a 46.1% increase). Imports of industrial goods amounted to US$3.08 billion (15.3% of the total volume), with imports of non-ferrous metals rising sharply, doubling to US$453.6 million. Imports of chemical products reached US$2.47 billion (12.3%), of which medical and pharmaceutical products accounted for US$794.9 million.

Imports of food and live animals grew by 42.3% to US$2.31 billion, taking up 11.5% of total imports—a noticeable increase compared to 9.8% a year earlier. The most substantial increases occurred in the import of cereals (US$632.5 million, a 63.5% increase) and meat (US$393.6 million, a 46.9% increase). Imports of mineral fuels amounted to US$1.86 billion with a growth of 31.7%, including natural gas imports which grew by 84.1% to US$724.7 million.

Imports of services increased by 14.7% to US$2.1 billion, accounting for 10.2% of total imports. The largest shares in this category were held by travel (44.8%, US$919.4 million) and transport services (23.9%, US$490 million).

The largest suppliers of imports to Uzbekistan were China (32.3% of the total volume, US$6.49 billion), Russia (19.3%, US$3.89 billion), Kazakhstan (8.4%, US$1.69 billion), the Republic of Korea (3.6%), Türkiye (3.4%), and Germany (2.2%). These six countries accounted for more than 70% of all imports to the republic. Overall during the reporting period, goods and services entered Uzbekistan from more than 155 countries worldwide.