Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Oct. 19 /Trend corr. D.Azizov/
At the International Uzbek Cotton and Textile Fair, held on October 17-18 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan signed contracts to export 670,000 tons of cotton fibre, the fair's organising committee told Trend on Friday.
In addition, contracts worth over $ 600 million were signed on the export of the production of Uzbekistan's textile enterprises. The volume of contracts for the purchase of cotton increased by 11.7 per cent in comparison to last year and the delivery of textile products by 9.1 per cent.
In total, over 150 contracts between12 foreign and six local companies were signed at the fair.
As previously reported, according to the totals at the fair held last year, export contracts were signed for 600.000 tons of cotton fibre, as well as for the supply of Uzbek textile production for the total amount of over $550 million.
"The demand on the world market for cotton and textiles produced in Uzbekistan is very high. This is why despite the fair ending, contracting will be continued, "the organising committee representative noted.
According to the fair organisers, the event was attended by over a 1000 foreign companies specialising in the field of cotton and textile industries from 38 countries.
This season, Bangladesh (39 per cent), China (13 per cent) and South Korea (seven per cent) remain the main buyers of Uzbek cotton.
The International Uzbek Cotton Fair is held by the Uzbek government with the assistance of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC). The fair was first held in October 2005.
Contracts for the sale of more than 1.1 million tons of cotton fibre were signed back then. In total during subsequent fairs, Uzbekistan signed export contracts in the amount of about 4.5 million tons of cotton fibre.
Uzbekistan currently ranks sixth in the world on the production and second on the export of raw cotton fibre.
Uzbekistan produces about 3.5 million tons of raw cotton annually and 1-1.2 million tons of cotton fibre. Over 95 per cent are medium fibre selected varieties with a length of 32-33 mm, the rest are long fibre varieties at 36-39 mm.