Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Sept 6
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
Uzbeklegprom State JSC will allocate about $1 billion in an increase in domestic processing of cotton fiber and the reduction of its export in 2015-2020, the head of the Uzbeklegprom main department Dilbar Muhamedova said at a press conference Sept. 5.
The press conference was organized by international exhibition company ITE Uzbekistan prior to opening of the Central Asian International Textile Machinery Exhibition (CAITME 2014) and TextilExpo Uzbekistan.
She added that a development program of light industry for the next five years has been currently elaborated with a number of ministries and departments.
"The program provides for an increase in domestic processing of cotton fiber from 44 percent this year to 70 percent in 2020, with a corresponding increase in textile export from $800 million to $1.5 billion," Muhamedova said.
The projects planned to be implemented over the next five years will increase the production of cotton yarn by 2.6 times compared to the expected outcome of the 2014 - up to 562.800 metric tons, production of cotton fabrics will increase by 2.8 times - up to 340 million square meters, knitted fabric - by 2.9 times up to 110.500 metric tons, jerseys - by 2.1 times up to 296 million units, garments - by 3.3 times up to 20.1 million units.
Funding for the program will be implemented through direct investment by domestic enterprises and foreign investors, as well as loans from Uzbek banks.
Uzbekistan annually produces about 3.5 million metric tons of raw cotton and 1-1.2 million metric tons of cotton fiber. About 60 percent of produced cotton is exported.
In 2013, the production of cotton fiber in Uzbekistan increased by 1.4 percent - up to 1.087 million metric tons compared to 2012.