In 2023, Uzbekistan’s foreign trade turnover surged to $62.57 billion, marking a substantial 23.8% increase of $12 billion compared to the previous year, according to data from the Statistics Agency under the president of Uzbekistan.
Exports saw a rise of 23.8% to $24.4 billion, while imports rose to $30.1 billion, reflecting a 24% increase. Notably, the foreign trade deficit surpassed $13.7 billion, showing a 24.3% growth from 2022's deficit of -$11.03 billion. The deficit would have been even larger if not for record gold exports and a positive balance in services.
Exports
In December, Uzbekistan refrained from exporting gold; however, over the span of 12 months, gold sales soared to a record $8.15 billion — almost double the figures from 2022. Gold shipments accounted for a 33.4% share in the country’s total exports, while it was 21.3% in the previous year.
Excluding gold, overall exports experienced a growth of 4.5%, reaching $16.17 billion. The proportion of manufactured goods in exports declined from 22.2% to 16.6%, with shipments decreasing from $4.38 billion to $4.06 billion.
In 2023, the sales of fruits and vegetables witnessed a 1.1% increase, totaling 1.76 million tons, and a 3.3% growth in value, reaching $1.18 billion. The primary markets for fruit and vegetable exports included Russia (37%), Pakistan (16.7%), the People’s Republic of China (12.3%) and Kazakhstan (10.3%).
Exports of grains and related products surged to $478.8 million (+34.4%), coffee, tea and cocoa to $27.6 million (+12.1%), beverages to $60.1 million (+35.3%) and oil and oil products doubled, reaching $333 million. Export values of inorganic chemicals rose to $497.5 million (+22.6%), iron and steel to $185.9 million (+11.3%), metal products to $130.2 million (+11.9%) and leather goods to $41.3 million (+17%).
Exports of automobile supplies reached $127.5 million, spare parts for machinery — $366.3 million (+25.1%), electrical machinery and apparatus — $227.7 million (-0.3%), power generating equipment and machinery — $175.5 million (+1.6%), telecommunications equipment and machinery — $118 million (2.2 times) and other transportation equipment soared to $100.1 million (8.5 times).
Gas exports witnessed a nearly twofold decrease, falling to $529.9 million, while electric current dropped to $76.6 million (-37.8%). Fertilizer exports also declined to $336.3 million (-18%), non-ferrous metals to $1.38 billion (-9.9%) and medical and pharmaceutical products to $37.9 million (-11.7%). Sales of textile products decreased by 3.8%, totaling $3.05 billion.
Imports
In terms of imports, food supplies remain at a high level, with grains and related products amounting to $1.12 billion (+5.3%), coffee, tea, cocoa and spices to $385.3 million (+23%), vegetable oils and fats to $354.9 million (+16.4%), meat and meat products to $348.4 million (+9.1%), vegetables and fruits to $348.4 million (+23.5%) and dairy products and eggs to $211.5 million (+31.7%). However, there was a 2.3% decrease in sugar, sugar products and honey, which amounted to $558.2 million.
Oil and oil product imports increased to $1.61 billion (+27%), while coal, coke and briquette to $204.4 million (+67.8%). Gas supplies experienced a 2.5-fold increase, reaching $694.9 million. Noteworthy fluctuations were observed in gas imports, with values at $286 million in September, $73.8 million in October, $1 million in November and $132.2 million in December.
Imports of automobiles rose to $4.34 billion (1.7 times) and spare parts increased to $148.3 million (+68.8%).
Aircraft deliveries for the year reached $939.5 million (2.6 times), $139.5 million in November and $185.9 million in December.
Fertilizer imports experienced a twofold increase, reaching $167.2 million. As we reported earlier, this notable surge in supplies is possibly related to the production decline at Uzkimyosanoat enterprises, which faced gas shortages. In response to the losses, Uzbekistan imported 55.3 thousand tons of ammonia from Russia’s Togliattiazot to manufacture 64.2 thousand tons of ammonium nitrate, constituting 8% of the country’s total output.
There was a 2% decline in the import values of medical and pharmaceutical products, totaling $1.6 billion, although the stable growth was observed in previous years.
Furthermore, Uzbekistan imported iron and steel totaling $2.55 billion (+1.7%), metal products — $940.1 million (+28.4%), textile yarn, fabrics and finished goods — $675.4 million (+24.1%), rubber products valued at $543.5 million (1.5 times) and paper and cardboard worth $479.6 million (+6.7%), among other imports.
Services and manufactured goods
In January-December, services exports amounted to $5.8 billion, constituting 21.2% of total trade exports and registering a 16.2% increase from 2022. The primary contributors to services exports were transportation services (43.2%), traveling (tourism) (41.4%), telecommunications, computer and information services (8.5%) and other business services (3.1%).
Imports of services totaled $2.57 billion (+0.7%).
Industrial goods supplied to Uzbekistan reached $6.3 billion (+10%). The major contributors were Russia at $2.17 billion (34.3%), China at $1.95 billion (30.9%), Kazakhstan at $715.2 million (11.3%), Turkey at $353.6 million (5.6%) and South Korea at $209.6 million (3.3%).
Comparatively, at the end of 2022, Russia held a 42.3% share ($2.4 billion), followed by China at 21.9% ($1.25 billion), Kazakhstan at 12.5% ($721.5 million), Turkey at 5.3% ($306.2 million) and South Korea at 3.8% ($220 million).
