BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 5
By Klavdiya Romakayeva - Trend:
In the first seven months of 2020, the volume of exports of Uzbek fruits and vegetables to China decreased by 44 percent to $19 million, Trend reports referring to EastFruit.
The sharpest decrease was registered in the export of fresh cherries. Uzbekistan was able to export to China only a little over 100 tons of cherries in a season, while a year earlier, export shipments of Uzbek cherries to China exceeded 600 tons.
The main reason, according to market participants, was the decrease in the production of sweet cherries in Uzbekistan in 2020 due to spring frosts, problems with product quality, and problems with logistics, since the ripening of sweet cherries fell on the period of strict quarantine measures due to the coronavirus pandemic.
During the same period last year, Chile supplied 165 tons of fresh cherries to China, and, Kyrgyzstan, neighboring Uzbekistan supplied 164 tons.
In addition, the export of Uzbek raisins has dropped dramatically. The supply of raisins to China from Uzbekistan more than halved from 13,700 tons in the first seven months of 2019 to 5,900 thousand tons in the same period of 2020.
However, even such a sharp decline in raisin exports allowed Uzbekistan to maintain its leadership in the ranking of the main suppliers of raisins to the Chinese market, although the main competitors the US, Chile, and Turkey reduced the supply of raisins to China less significantly.
The only position on which Uzbekistan has increased its export to China is dried apricots. Deliveries of Uzbek dried apricots to the Chinese market more than doubled but remained insignificant amounting to just over 200 tons.
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