Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 23
By Nigar Guliyeva - Trend:
Up to 2020, Uzbekistan plans to realize more than 150 new projects worth over $2 billion in the field of light industry, said Akmal Kamalov, the chairman of the holding company “Uzpahtasanoatexport”.
Thanks to the development of production capacities, the export of finished goods has already exceeded $ 1.3 billion, Kamalov said at the opening of the 13th International cotton and textile fair in Tashkent Oct 23, local media reports.
In 2017, Uzbekistan brought the level of internal processing of cotton fiber up to 70%, added Kamalov.
"If in 1991 the volume of fiber processing did not exceed 7%, then by 2017 this figure reached 70%. During this period, there was a significant, almost 30-fold increase in exports of light industry products," he said.
He noted that increase in the volume of deep cotton processing was possible due to the annual growth in the number of textile enterprises.
The Uzbek Economy Ministry previously reported that by 2021 Uzbekistan will achieve full processing of cotton fiber.
Furthermore, by 2021 the production of textile and clothing and knitted products will increase by 2.2 times compared to 2016, including ready-made fabrics - 2.7 times, knitted fabrics - 3 times, knitted goods - 3,4 times, hosiery - 3,7 times. The country plans to increase the export of products by 2 times.
Currently, Uzbekistan is the world’s sixth-largest cotton producer among 90 cotton-growing countries. It produces about 1.1 million tons of cotton fiber annually, which accounts for about 6 percent of global cotton production. The country exports cotton mainly to China, Bangladesh, Korea and Russia.