Tashkent, Uzbekistan — According to the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan, in January-May 2020, the foreign trade turnover of Uzbekistan reached US$12.98 billion, which, compared with the same period of last year, decreased by US$2.44 billion.
Exports reached US$5.14 billion (a decrease of 15.6% was recorded in January-May 2019), and imports reached US$7.84 billion (a decrease of 16.1%). A passive balance of foreign trade in the amount of US$2.69 billion was recorded.
Uzbekistan has trade relations with more than 150 countries of the world. The largest foreign trade turnover was recorded with China (17.9%), the Russian Federation (16.9%), Kazakhstan (8.4%), the Republic of Korea (7.3%), Turkey (5.5%), and Kyrgyzstan (2.3%) and Afghanistan (2.0%).
Significant changes were achieved in the structure of exports as a result of increased production of products that replaced imported goods and diversification of industrial production.
In addition, there is a strengthening of relations with neighboring states, a lot of work is being done to develop relations in the socio-economic, commercial, industrial and cultural sphere with these countries.
In particular, in recent years, significant changes in the foreign trade turnover 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 foreign trade turnover with other states (except neighboring countries) falls on Russia, China, the Republic of Korea and Turkey.
Among the 20 major partner countries for foreign economic activity, there is also an active foreign trade balance with five countries, in particular with such countries as Afghanistan (US$263.2 million), Kyrgyzstan (US$211.2 million), Tajikistan (US$117.8 million), France (US$27.1 million) and Iran (US$7.9 million). With the remaining 15 countries, a passive balance of foreign trade is maintained.
One third of the foreign trade turnover 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 share of foreign trade of the CIS countries, compared to the same period in 2018, increased by 2.9% and their share in foreign trade, according to the results of January-May 2020, made up 35.4%.
The volume of foreign trade turnover of other states in January-May 2020 decreased (by 2.9%) and made up 64.6% of the total foreign trade turnover.
In January-May of the current year, the total number of exporting entities made up 4 131 units and this ensured that the volume of exports, excluding special exports, was brought to US$3.5 billion (a decrease of 28.0% compared to the same period of 2019).
In the export structure, 82.9% is occupied by goods, which mainly account for industrial goods (18.0%), food products and live animals (8.2%), mineral fuel, lubricating oils and similar materials (7.5 %).
There is a difference in the direction of export of goods and services between the CIS countries and other foreign countries. So, 24.9% of exports to the CIS countries are primarily exported by services, followed by industrial goods and food products, as well as live animals and various finished products.
During the reporting period, the export of beverages, tobacco, non-food raw materials (except fuel), machinery and transport equipment, various finished products, as well as animal and vegetable oil to the CIS countries grew at the fastest pace, the decline was primarily noted in the export of mineral fuel, food and chemicals.
Analysis of the structure of exported goods and services in January-May 2020, sent to other countries, showed that, compared with January-2019, the volume of exports of machinery and transport equipment, raw materials of non-food, mineral fuels, lubricants and similar materials, as well as services declined.
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 27.3% to 32.3%. Accordingly, the share in the total exports of other foreign countries decreased from 72.7% to 67.7%.
Compared with January-May 2018-2019, our main partners in the export of goods and services in foreign trade in January-May 2020 were countries such as China (13.0% of total exports), the Russian Federation (12, 4%), Turkey (6.9%), Kazakhstan (6.2%), Afghanistan (5.1%), Kyrgyzstan (5.0%) and Tajikistan (3.0%). Their share in total exports reached 51.5%.
In January-May 2020, compared with January-April 2020, among the seven major partner countries for the export of goods and services, the Russian Federation dropped by one position, losing its leading position and now this share of export is occupied by the PRC. The geography of partner countries for the export of goods and services, compared with the same period of 2019, decreased from 141 to 140 countries.
According to the results of January-May 2020, the volume of export of services made up US$879.5 million, or 17.1% of its total volume, and decreased by 29.8% compared to the same period of 2019. Over the past three years, the share of services in total exports has increased due to growth. In the export of services, the lion’s share is transport services (63.8%) and travel (tourism) (23.1%).
At the same time, other services (6.1%) account for the largest share in business (2.3%), construction (2.0%) and financial services (0.7), respectively.
The volume of exports of fruits and vegetables made up more than 542.4 thousand tons and, in value terms, exceeded US$305.1 million (the rate of decline compared to the same period of 2019 was 10.0% and 40.9%, respectively ) Of these, 443.3 thousand tons of vegetables were exported in the amount of US$170.6 million, as well as 67.4 thousand tons of fruits and berries in the amount of US$98.4 million (the rate of decline in value terms, compared with the same period of 2019, respectively, made up 35.8% and 27.4%).
The main export markets for fruits and vegetables are in Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan.
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-May 2020, the share of fruits and vegetables in total exports made up 5.9%.
The largest volume in value terms of export of fruits and vegetables is in Kazakhstan (30.0% of the total volume of fruits and vegetables), which exceeds the volume of exports to the Russian Federation by 1.3 times.
The increase in textile exports can be directly 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-May 2020, textile products were exported in the amount of US$655.5 million, which made up 12.7% of total exports and, compared to January-May 2019, it increased by 0, 3%
The main share in the structure of textile exports is cotton yarn (50.2%), as well as finished knitwear and garments (26.4%). In January-May 2020, more than 348 types of textile products were exported to 55 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 growing.
The largest share of textile exports is to the Russian Federation (US$254.2 million – 38.8%), China (US$129.7 million – 19.8%) and Turkey (US$77.1 million – 11.8%).
During the reporting period, imports made up US$7.84 billion (a decrease in growth rates compared to January-May 2019 was 16.1%). The main share in its structure is occupied by machinery and transport equipment (37.1%), industrial goods (16.5%), as well as chemicals and similar products (13.3%).
An analysis of the dynamics of imports of goods and services also showed that in January-May 2020, compared with the same period of 2019, the volume of imports of goods decreased by US$1.2 billion and made up US$7.25 billion and imports of services reached US$590.4 million.
An analysis of the structure of imported goods and services in January-May 2020 also showed that, compared with January-May 2019, the share of imports of non-food raw materials increased from 4.6% to 4.8%, machinery and transport equipment decreased from 39, 1% to 37.1%, industrial goods – from 17.0% to 16.5%, respectively.
An analysis of service imports also showed that in January-May 2020, compared to the same period in 2018, the share in total imports decreased from 12.5% to 7.5%.
The decrease in food imports is due to sugar, sugar and honey products (by 24.5%), cereals and products from them (by 2.2%).
There is also a decrease in imports of manufactured goods, products from non-metallic minerals (by 34.8%), products from corks and wood (except furniture) (by 28.7%).
In dynamics, a stable ratio of the share of imports with the CIS countries and other foreign countries is observed, which, within, is the ratio of 37.3:62.7.
According to the results of the reporting period, China with the share of imports in the total volume of 21.1% and the Russian Federation, which, with the share of 19.9%, took the second place, won the first place among the major import partner countries.
Compared to the same period of 2019, the top six import partner countries have not changed. In general, following the results of January-May 2020, Uzbekistan imported goods and services from 131 countries. A third of the imports (US$5,674.6 million) are accounted for by such large partner countries as China (the share in total imports is 21.1%), the Russian Federation (19.9%), and the Republic of Korea (11.8%), Kazakhstan (9.9%), Turkey (4.5%), Germany (2.9%) and Lithuania (2.2%).
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-May 2020 made up US$590.4 million, or 7.5% of its total volume and decreased by 33.2% compared to the same period of 2019. The main share in the import of services is travel (tourism – 52.4%) and transport services (14.9%). In addition, other services accounted for 21.6% of total imports of services, including a high share in telecommunications, computer and information services (7.6%), fees for the use of intellectual property (6.3%), construction services (3.6%) and others.
According to the results of January-May 2020, the volume of imports of building materials in its total volume made up 5.0% and reached US$394.0 million. The main share in its structure is wood and products from it (47.8%), glass and products from it (5.6%), cement (7.6%), as well as asbestos (2.3%). In general, the volume of imports of building materials in January-May 2020, compared with 2019, decreased (a decrease of 23.8%).
Based on the foregoing, it should be noted that the increase 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
