Uzbekistan’s foreign trade tops $81bn in 2025 as gold exports surge

Total foreign trade reached $81.2 billion last year, an increase of $13.9 billion, or 20.7%, compared with 2024. Exports amounted to $33.8 billion, up 24%, while imports rose by 18.5% to $47.3 billion. As a result, the country recorded a negative trade balance exceeding $13.5 billion.

China remained Uzbekistan’s largest trading partner, accounting for 21.2% of total trade turnover, followed by Russia with 16%. Other key partners included Kazakhstan (6.1%), Turkey (3.7%), and South Korea (2.1%).

Among Uzbekistan’s 20 major trading partners, trade turnover declined with South Korea (–14%), Turkey (–0.4%), the United States (–2%), and Poland (–2.3%) compared with the previous year. In contrast, trade volumes increased significantly with the remaining 16 countries. The sharpest growth was recorded with Switzerland (+84%), the United Arab Emirates (+52.7%), Afghanistan (+47.5%), Kyrgyzstan (+37.1%), and India (+33.3%).

Overall, trade with South Korea and Turkey has been on a sustained downward trend in recent years. Over the past two years, trade turnover with South Korea alone has declined by 26%.

Exports

Gold remained the dominant export commodity in 2025. Uzbekistan sold $9.9 billion worth of gold, a year-on-year increase of 32.3%, accounting for 29.3% of total exports and marking an all-time record. No gold exports were recorded in the final three months of the year. In previous years, gold exports stood at $4.9 billion in 2019, $5.8 billion in 2020, $4.1 billion in both 2021 and 2022, $8.1 billion in 2023, and $7.4 billion in 2024.

Other major export categories included industrial goods (11.8%), food products and live animals (8.7%), chemical products (6.3%), miscellaneous manufactured goods (5%), and mineral fuels (4.4%).

During the year, Uzbekistan exported $628.8 million worth of natural gas, up 1.4% year on year. Exports of oil and petroleum products reached $674 million (+18.6%), while electricity exports increased by 45.6% in value terms to $169 million. At the same time, exports of vehicles and spare parts totaled $357 million, down 13.8% compared with 2024.

Russia remained the largest destination for Uzbek exports, accounting for 12.8%, followed by China (7.3%), Kazakhstan (4.6%), Afghanistan (4.5%), Turkey (3.4%), France (2.6%), Kyrgyzstan (2.3%), the UAE (2.1%), Tajikistan (2%), and Pakistan (1%). Together, these countries absorbed around 40% of total exports.

Imports

On the import side, the largest share was taken by machinery and transport equipment (33.8%), followed by industrial goods (15.3%) and chemical products (11.8%).

Imports of food products and live animals reached $4.5 billion in 2025, up 23.5% year on year. The sharpest increase was recorded in meat and meat products, with imports totaling $869 million, a surge of 70.6% amid rising domestic prices. Gas imports amounted to $1.659 billion, equivalent to 98.8% of the 2024 level, while gasoline imports rose by 5.8% to $1.555 billion.

Gas imports have increased sharply in recent years, rising from $50.4 million in 2020 to $154.5 million in 2021, $281.9 million in 2022, $694.9 million in 2023, and $1.679 billion in 2024.

More than 60% of Uzbekistan’s total imports came from seven countries: China (31.2%), Russia (18.3%), Kazakhstan (7.2%), Turkey (4%), South Korea (3.5%), Germany (2.7%), and India (2.4%).