Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Oct. 16 / Trend D.Azizov /
Uzbekistan plans to create a joint venture on trade of the Uzbek cotton in China by late 2010.
The Uzbek government and the Chinese Tianjin Cotton Exchange Market (TCEM) signed a memorandum on creation of the joint venture on spot sales of the Uzbek cotton through free trade zone in Tianjin.
The Chinese company and the company acting as an agent on behalf of the Uzbek government are expected to sign the founding documents to create a joint venture late October - early November. The joint venture plans to start to trade the Uzbek cotton through electronic trade platform by late 2010.
The sides are planning to realize up to 100,000 tons of cotton-fiber from Uzbekistan to China annually.
According to Cotton Outlook, China imported cotton fiber in the volume of 249,080 tons (10.5 percent of the total Chinese cotton imports) from Uzbekistan in the 2009-2010 seasoncompare to 148,800 tons (9.8 percent) in the previous season.
As previously reported, Uzbekistan signed contracts to export over 600,000 tons of ginned cotton at the International Uzbek Cotton Fair. Major volumes of ginned cotton were sold to traditional partners in China, Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, India and Russia.
Uzbekistan ranks sixth in the world for cotton production and third for cotton-fiber exports. The country produces about 3.5 million tons of raw cotton annually and 1.0-1.2 million tons of cotton-fiber.
According to the official statistics, Uzbekistan reduced the cotton fiber production by 10.1 percent to 1.055 million tons in 2009 compared to the previous year. Textile enterprises increased cotton yarn production by 0.7 percent to 145.54 tons last year.
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