In 2023, the share of China and Russia in the foreign trade turnover of Uzbekistan increased to 38%, while the share of neighboring countries decreased from 17% to 13%. During the year, exports without gold grew by only 4.5%, and an absolute record amount of $8.2 billion worth of gold was sold. Gas exports almost halved.
In 2023, the foreign trade turnover of Uzbekistan increased by 23.9% compared to 2022 and reached 62.5 billion dollars. Of this, $24.4 billion worth of trade was exports, and $38.1 billion was made up of imports. The relevant information was reported by the Statistics Agency.
Compared to 2022, the volume of exports increased by 23.8%, and the volume of imports by 24.0%.
The negative balance of foreign trade increased by 2.7 billion dollars and reached 13.7 billion dollars.
Dependence on China and Russia has increased
In 2023, China became the largest trading partner of Uzbekistan. During the reporting period, the volume of mutual trade reached $13.7 billion. This is 21.9% of the total foreign trade turnover of the republic.
Also, a significant part of the foreign trade turnover is registered with Russia (15.8%), Kazakhstan (7%), Turkey (5%) and South Korea (3.7%).
Last year, the combined share of China and Russia in foreign trade reached 37.7 percent. In comparison, the rate of dependence in these two countries has only increased over the past four years:
2020 – 33.2%;
2021 – 35.5%;
2022 – 36.4%.
It is noteworthy that the share of the countries bordering Uzbekistan (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan) in the total trade volume decreased from 8 billion 24 million dollars in 2022 to 8 billion 70 million dollars in 2023, or from 16.5% to 12.8%.
Top 10 countries with the highest share in the foreign trade turnover of Uzbekistan in 2023:
China – $13.7 billion;
Russia – $9.8 billion;
Kazakhstan – $4.4 billion;
Turkey – $3 billion;
Korea – $2.3 billion;
Turkmenistan – $1.1 billion;
Germany – $1 billion;
France – $984 million;
Kyrgyzstan – $953 million;
Afghanistan – $867 million.
Out of the 20 major partner countries in terms of foreign economic activity, only three countries – Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – have a positive foreign trade balance. A negative foreign trade balance with the remaining 17 countries has been maintained.
Export
In 2023, exports without gold increased by only 4.5% and amounted to 16.2 billion dollars. That is, the 23.8% increase in the export volume in January-December is directly related to the increase in gold sales. Gold worth 8.2 billion dollars was exported during this period. This is an absolute record indicator.
For information, $4.1 billion worth of gold was sold in 2022, $4.1 billion in 2021, $5.8 billion in 2020, and $4.9 billion in 2019.
Also, the share of industrial products in the total export decreased from 22.2 percent to 16.6 percent. The share of food products and live animals decreased from 8.3% to 7.3%, and the share of chemicals decreased from 6.6% to 5.4%.
In turn, the share of gold exports increased from 20.8% to 33.4%, and the share of machinery and transport equipment increased from 4.9% to 5.3%.
In 2023, the volume of exports to China decreased by 6.5 percent. Sales of goods to Turkey decreased by 24%, and exports to Kazakhstan decreased by 2.5%. In turn, the volume of exports to Russia increased by 5% and to Afghanistan by 13.3%.
Import
The largest share in the structure of import was accounted for by machinery and transport equipment (39.2%), industrial goods (16.6%), and chemicals and similar products (12.8%).
In turn, the import of cars amounted to $4.5 billion (74.4%), and the import of airplanes and other flying devices amounted to $940 million (a 2.6-fold increase).
The volume of imports from China increased by 75.2%, from Russia by 5.5%, from Turkey by 6.5%, and from Turkmenistan by 26.2%.
Export and import of fuel products
During the reporting period, Uzbekistan imported gas worth $695 million, which is 2.5 times more than in the corresponding period of 2022. On the other hand, during this period, gas export almost doubled – by 57.3% or $530 million.
Also, coal worth 204 million dollars was imported last year, which is 67.8% more than the corresponding period of the previous year.
In January-December, electricity worth $121 million was purchased (decrease – 0.3%) and electricity worth $76.6 million was exported (decrease – 45.8%).
Export of oil and oil products increased by 27% to $297 million, and import increased by 27% to $1.6 billion.
