From January to April, 2024, Uzbekistan's foreign trade turnover amounted to $20.87 billion, which is $1.16 billion, or 5.9%, more than in the same period in 2023. Exports, including gold, grew by 9% to $8.49 billion, without gold - $5.07 billion (+7.1%), and imports - to $12.4 billion (+3.9%), a report of the Statistics Agency under the President of Uzbekistan says, Gazeta.uz reports.
In April, exports grew by 6% due to gold supplies. Exports without gold decreased by 7% to $1.38 billion.
According to the Agency's report, China remains Uzbekistan's main trading partner in the first four months of 2024, but Russia is close to reclaiming this status.
Trade with Russia increased by 29.4% to $3.84 billion (in January-April 2023, the growth was 15%), with Uzbek exports over four months amounting to $1.02 billion (+25.8%), and imports - $2.82 billion (+30.7%).
The share of Russia in Uzbekistan's foreign trade turnover has changed as follows since the beginning of the year: in January - 18.3%, in February - 17.8%, in March - 17.7%, in April - 18.4%. During this period, China's share decreased from 27.2% to 19%, Kazakhstan's - from 6.5% to 5.9%, Turkey's - from 5.1% to 4.4%, South Korea's - from 4.3% to 3.3%, and Germany's - from 2.3% to 1.7%.
Imports from Russia have been growing at a high rate for three consecutive months: in February - 42.4% (compared to February 2023), in March - 22.5%, in April - 46.5%. Trade with China increased by 18.2%, but imports of Chinese goods and services decreased by 8.2% in March, and grew by only 2.37% in April (January saw a growth of 7.56%, February - 21%).
Economist Mirkomil Kholboev noted that last month exports to Russia grew fivefold to $300.5 million (compared to April 2023), while exports to China decreased by 21.6%, Kazakhstan - by 39.4%, Turkey - by 7%, Kyrgyzstan - by 36.2%, and Tajikistan - by 20.1%.
Monthly supplies from Kazakhstan have been decreasing for ten consecutive months, including January - 29.6% (compared to January 2023), February - 16.7%, March - 14.4%, and April - 27.3%.
Overall, trade with Kazakhstan from January to April amounted to $1.22 billion, which is less than the figure for the same period in 2023 ($1.5 billion), 2022 ($1.4 billion), and almost the same as the 2021 figure ($1.22 billion).
Trade with Turkey decreased to $920.2 million (-15.8%), with South Korea - to $695 million (-13.3%), with Germany - to $345 million (-56.3%, due to a sharp increase last year from aircraft deliveries), with Turkmenistan - to $288.5 million (-8.7%), with Kyrgyzstan - to $224.2 million (-32.4%), and with Tajikistan - to $198.1 million (-3.4%).
In four months, trade with France increased by 1.5 times to $386.4 million, allowing it to rise from 10th to 6th place among Uzbekistan's main trading partners. This growth is mainly due to increased Uzbek exports, which grew to $264.6 million, 2.2 times more than the same period in 2023 ($120.6 million) and 4.1 times more than 2022 ($64.1 million).
The growth in exports to France can be explained by increased supplies of Uzbek uranium. This issue was discussed by French President Emmanuel Macron with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev during his visit to Tashkent, including the expansion of geological exploration of uranium deposits together with Orano.
Uzbekistan's trade turnover is also growing with India, the USA, Afghanistan, the UAE, the Czech Republic, Pakistan, and Japan.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
May 24, 2024