BAKU, Azerbaijan, Apr. 27
By Ilkin Seyfaddini - Trend:
Gold and textiles accounted for more than 40 percent of Uzbekistan's exports in the first quarter of 2020, Trend reports citing State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan.
Gold has been an absolute leader in the foreign market in recent years, the committee said. In the period from January through March 2020, Uzbekistan shipped precious metal to foreign countries worth over $2,3 billion. (-7.4 percent compared to the first quarter of 2019).
Textile exports grew by almost a third to $463.5 million, or 13.7 percent of total exports.
As a result of extensive work on diversifying the country's textile industry and stimulating exports of finished products, Uzbekistan's potential in this area is growing. Russia ($182 million, that's 39.3 percent of total share), China ($88.9 million - 19.2 percent) and Turkey ($60.5 million - 13.1 percent) account for the largest share of exports of textile products.
The increase in the volume of textile products exports can be considered as a direct result of reforms in the production of finished products and the formation of added value to replace raw cotton production, the report says.
Export potential of the sector has doubled in the last three years. In 2019, products worth $1.6 billion were supplied to foreign markets.
Uzbekistan has resources and funds sufficient to fully process the grown cotton, to bring exports to $15 billion and provide employment for more than three million people, the report said.
Earlier, the president of Uzbekistan ordered to extend the deadline final payment for cotton fiber sold until April 1, 2020, from 90 to 150 days. The Ministry of Finance has been instructed to introduce a mechanism of immediate return of value added tax after the customs clearance of exports, so that enterprises maintain a stable level of working capital.
New enterprises will be organized in Namangan, Samarkand and Tashkent regions to export finished products. Some $300 million will be allocated for the implementation of these projects within the credit line of national Reconstruction and Development Fund.
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