BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17
By Fakhri Vakilov-Trend:
According to the results of 2019, the foreign trade turnover of Uzbekistan amounted to $42.2 billion, an increase of $8.7 billion compared to 2018 (an increase of 26.2 percent), Trend reports citing Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Investment and foreign trade.
In particular, the export of domestic goods and services to foreign countries grew by $3.9 billion, or 28 percent compared to 2018, and amounted to $17.9 billion.
The bulk of exports accounted for products from precious and semiprecious metals - $5.1 billion (28.5 percent of total exports), services - $3.6 billion (19.9 percent), energy - $2.5 billion (14.1 percent), textile products - $1.6 billion (9.1 percent), food products - $1.5 billion (8.5 percent), non-ferrous metals and products from them - $951.3 million (5,3 percent), chemical products and products from them - $876.9 million (4.9 percent), ferrous metals and products from them - $349.6 million (2 per cent).
During 2019, 2,700 new enterprises were involved in export activities. In addition, the 206 new products were supplied to the markets of 42 countries.
:ast year, Import increased by $4.8 billion, reaching $24.3 billion, more than 25 percent compared to 2018.
The main import items were mechanical equipment - $5.6 billion (23.1 percent of total imports), vehicles and spare parts - $2.6 billion (10.8 percent), services - $2.4 billion (10 percent), ferrous metals and products from them - $2.2 billion (9.1 percent), electrical equipment - $1.3 billion (5.5 percent), food products - $1.2 billion (5, 2 percent), energy - $928.1 million (3.8 percent), pharmaceuticals - $926.8 million (3.8 percent), wood and wood products - $903.7 million (3.7 percent), chemical products - $843.5 million (3.5 percent), plastics and wood products - $811.7 million (3.3 percent) and more.
The number of Uzbekistan’s foreign trade partners for the reporting period amounted to 178. Currently, Uzbekistan’s leading import partners are China ($7.6 billion or 18.1 percent), Russia ($6.6 billion or 15.7 percent), Kazakhstan ($3.3 billion or 8 percent), South Korea ($2.7 billion or 6.5 percent), Turkey ($2.5 billion or 6 percent), Germany ($980 million or 2.3 percent), Kyrgyzstan ($829 million or 2 percent), Afghanistan ($618 million or 1.5 percent) and the United States ($596 million at or 1.4 percent).
From January through December 2019, the volume of trade with the CIS countries amounted to $14.6 billion, an increase of 20 percent compared to 2018. In this context, the main trading partners were Russia (46 percent of the total trade with the CIS countries), Kazakhstan (23 percent), Kyrgyzstan (6 percent), and Turkmenistan (4 percent).
Moreover, trade with neighboring countries increased markedly by 25 percent compared to 2018: in real terms, exports reached $3.2 billion, while imports reached $2.6 billion.
Among the 20 major partner countries for foreign economic activity, there is a positive balance of foreign trade with five countries: Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Iran and France.
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