Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Uzbekistan’s cotton yield reached 56.2 centners per hectare in 2026, according to current data, marking the highest level since 1990. A total of 5.002 million tonnes of cotton was harvested from 890,000 hectares.
In 2025, cotton was cultivated on 876,000 hectares, producing 3.986 million tonnes at an average yield of 45.5 centners per hectare. Over the past year, the cultivated area increased by 14,000 hectares, total output rose by approximately 1.016 million tonnes, and yields improved by 10.7 centners per hectare.
In 2024, Uzbekistan harvested 3.181 million tonnes from 1.004 million hectares, with an average yield of 31.7 centners per hectare.
According to current figures, 2026 production is the second-highest recorded during the period under review. The only higher figure was in 1990, when Uzbekistan harvested 5.058 million tonnes of cotton from 1.83 million hectares, with a yield of 27.6 centners per hectare.
The current harvest is therefore close to the 1990 level, despite the cultivated area having more than halved and yields having approximately doubled.
Cotton cultivation areas generally declined throughout the period, from 1.83 million hectares in 1990 to 1.377 million hectares in 2000, 1.318 million hectares in 2010 and 1.034 million hectares in 2020. The smallest area was recorded in 2025, at 876,000 hectares.
From 1990 to 2018, cotton yields fluctuated between 20.6 and 27.6 centners per hectare. The lowest figure was recorded in 2003.
Yields began to rise in 2019, reaching 27.4 centners per hectare that year, 29.6 in 2020, 32.4 in 2021, 33.8 in 2022 and 36.6 in 2023. Until 2025, the 2023 figure remained the highest in the statistics.
The lowest total cotton harvest during the period was recorded in 2018, when Uzbekistan produced 2.31 million tonnes from 1.071 million hectares, with an average yield of 21.6 centners per hectare.
