Statistics on gas supply from Uzbekistan to China differ significantly

According to the State Statistics Committee, Uzbekistan exported $910.8 million worth of gas over 11 months, including $39.6 million in November. Today, the country supplies gas only to China.

However, according to Chinese statistics, the volume of gas supplied by Uzbekistan since the beginning of the year amounted to $1.03 billion (13% more than the data of Uzbekistan), and in November it was $114.2 million (almost 3 times the difference).

Gazeta.uz previously reported on the differences in gas statistics. In particular, in October, according to the data of the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan, gas was exported for a total of $91 million, while the Chinese side reported the import of Uzbek gas worth $148.5 million.

The State Statistics Committee informed that the formation of foreign trade indicators in Uzbekistan is carried out based on the requirements of the regulation “On the methodology of collecting and processing data of state and customs foreign trade statistics” (September 20, 2007, No. 1717).

In accordance with paragraph 5 of this regulation, the State Customs Committee promptly, by the 7th of each month following the reporting period, and every year, by January 15 of the year following the reporting year, taking into account the normative documents of the customs statistics of foreign trade of Uzbekistan, the specified information on the database of foreign trade of goods to the State Statistics submits to the committee.

Also, due to the reasons stated in the “Regulation on the procedure for changing, adding to, reissuing, withdrawing and canceling the customs cargo declaration” dated February 10, 2020, the customs cargo declaration is scheduled to be revised.

“We note that as a result of clarifying the customs cargo declaration within the period specified in the Customs Code in the cases provided for in this Regulation, the quantity and value of the performed export-import of goods, including the statistical value, may change,” the report reads.

Taking this into account, he noted that the words “Initial” or “Urgent” should be included in the monthly press release information, formed and published by the State Statistics Committee. Statistical data generated by the State Statistics Committee is officially recognized by prestigious international financial and economic organizations, in particular, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank, and others.

“In January-November, the value of natural or artificial gas exports, which were processed by customs declarations at State customs posts, amounted to $910.9 million. This information was submitted to the State Statistics Committee as departmental information,” the report said.

On November 16, Deputy Minister of Energy Sherzod Khodjayev announced that Uzbekistan has almost completely stopped exporting gas, and that electricity is being directed to meet domestic needs due to interruptions in the transmission of electricity caused by gas shortages in thermal power plants.

“As for the figures, if according to the daily forecasts, 10 million cubic meters of gas are planned to be exported, the current export volume will not even reach 1 million cubic meters,” the Deputy Minister of Energy said then.

At the same time, according to the State Statistics Committee data, Uzbekistan imported $28.5 million worth of gas and $16.5 million worth of electricity in November.