Uzbekistan's foreign trade turnover reached $51.4bn in January-August, marking an increase of $8.49bn, or 19.8% y/y, the state statistical agency has reported.

The expansion came mainly from a 31.3% y/y rise in exports to $22.98bn. Imports rose 11.8% y/y to $28.45bn, leaving Central Asia's second largest economy with a trade deficit of $5.47bn.

China remained Uzbekistan’s largest trading partner, accounting for 18.9% of total turnover. Trade with China has grown strongly in 8M25, rising to $9.71bn, up 21.1% y/y from $8.02bn in 8M24 and surpassing the $8.28bn recorded in 8M23.

According to Robin Brooks, a senior fellow at Brookings and former chief economist at the Institute of International Finance (IIF), China’s exports to Uzbekistan have doubled since the February 2022 start of the war in Ukraine and reached nearly $1.5bn in August alone. 

Citing Chinese customs data, which show figures that vary from the official Uzbek statistics, Brooks said that most shipments heading to Uzbekistan from China were transshipment flows to Russia. “China’s transshipments through Central Asia are up sharply this year, even as its direct exports to Russia decline. So there’s more transshipment, but less direct trade. Beijing remains [Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s biggest enabler by far,” he added.

Also in trade with Uzbekistan in the first eight months of this year, Russia ranked second, with trade rising to $8.30bn, up 6.5% y/y and 34.5% higher than the $6.17bn registered in 8M23. 

Kazakhstan followed with $3.03bn, rebounding 14.8% from $2.64bn in 8M24 following a decline from $2.89bn in 8M23.

Other key partners included Turkey (3.7% of total trade) and South Korea (2.2%).

Uzbekistan traded with 200 countries in January-August. The main export partners were Russia (12.5% of exports), China (5.4%), Kazakhstan (4.0%), Afghanistan (3.8%), Turkey (3.2%), France (2.7%), the UAE (2.1%), Kyrgyzstan (1.6%), Tajikistan (1.5%) and Pakistan (1.2%). Together, these countries accounted for 38% of total Uzbek exports.

In the export structure, goods accounted for 75.2% of total exports. Industrial goods made up 11.1%, food products and live animals 7.8%, chemicals 5.9% and various finished products 4.4%.

Uzbekistan’s agriculture sector continued to expand, with fruit and vegetable exports rising 7.3% y/y to 1.46mn tonnes (an increase of 99,800 tonnes) and 37.3% in value to $1.27bn, accounting for 5.5% of total exports.

Textile exports, however, fell 17% to $1.67bn, with finished textile products accounting for 50% and yarn 30% of the total.

Services made up 24.8% of Uzbekistan's exports, totalling $5.71bn, a 28.6% y/y increase. 

The largest share in exports came from travel and tourism sales (53.6%), followed by transport (32.0%), telecommunications and IT services (7.9%) and other business services (2.6%).

On the import side, goods imports increased by $2.36bn to $25.53bn, while services imports grew to $2.92bn.

Imports were led by machinery and transport equipment, making up 33.8%, followed by industrial goods at 16.1% and chemicals at 12.6%.

Service imports also saw strong growth, rising 28.6% y/y to $2.92bn, a volume which accounted for 10.3% of total imports. Services imports were dominated by travel and tourism (56.8%), followed by transport (18.0%), telecommunications and IT services (9.7%), other business services (5.4%) and miscellaneous services (10.0%).

In January-July, the country's trade turnover rose to $44.4 bn, up 19.9% y/y, driven by a 34.9% rise in exports to $20.11 bn. Imports grew 9.9% to $24.29 bn, resulting in a $4.18 bn trade deficit.