Uzbekistan, Tashkent, October 18/ Trend D.Azizov /
Uzbekistan has signed contracts to export 680,000 tons of cotton fibre at the International Uzbek Cotton and Textile Fair held in Tashkent on October 16 -17, Deputy Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade of Uzbekistan Akmal Kamalov said at the fair's closing ceremony.
In addition, he said contracts were concluded to export production of Uzbekistan's textile enterprises worth over one billion dollars.
As reported earlier, during the twelfth Cotton Fair, held in 2012, contracts were concluded on the purchase of more than 670,000 tons of Uzbek cotton fibre. The contracts for the purchase of export production of Uzbekistan's textile enterprises were concluded at a sum exceeding $600 million, an increase of 9.1 per cent.
In 2013, the fair was attended by over a thousand foreign companies from 40 countries around the world specialising in the cotton and textile industry.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade, the contracts for the export of Uzbek cotton this year are being concluded with companies from China, Bangladesh, Russia, France, Moldova, the Czech Republic, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
The buyers of Uzbekistan's textile products were companies from Russia, Iran, Belarus, South Korea, China, Kazakhstan, Spain and Singapore.
The Cotton and Textile Fair has been held in Uzbekistan annually since 2005. It is organized by the Uzbek government with the assistance of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC). In total, during the fairs Uzbekistan has concluded contracts for exports in the amount of 5.2 million tons of cotton fibre.
Uzbekistan holds sixth place in the world on cotton fibre production and second place in the export. Uzbekistan annually produces around 3.5 million tons of raw cotton and 1-1.2 million tons of cotton fibre. Over 95 per cent of the cotton account for medium fibre bred varieties with a fibre length of 32-33 millimetres, and the rest account for long fibre at 36-39 millimetres.