Uzbekistan’s trade deficit widened by $5.6bn, or 93%, year on year to $11.7bn in January to August from $6.0bn in the same period of last year, according to the national statistical committee.

Imports rose by 16.3% y/y to $34.5bn. Exports contracted by 3.4% y/y to $22.9bn.

Foreign trade turnover reached $57.4bn during the period. The figure was up $4.0bn, or 7.6%, y/y. Excluding non-monetary gold, merchandise exports grew by 28.7% y/y to $11.5bn.

China remained Uzbekistan’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $13.18bn. Russia placed second with $9.19bn, followed by Kazakhstan with $3.74bn, Turkey with $1.94bn and Afghanistan with $1.42bn.

Together, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Afghanistan accounted for 51.4% of Uzbekistan’s foreign trade turnover, with shares of 23.0%, 16.0%, 6.5%, 3.4% and 2.5%.

Uzbekistan maintained trade relations with more than 200 countries during the reporting period.

Goods accounted for 62.6% of total exports. Manufactured goods represented the largest share at 14.7%, followed by miscellaneous manufactured articles (9.1%), food and live animals (7.8%) and chemicals and related products (7.8%).

Russia remained Uzbekistan’s largest export destination, receiving 14.0% of total exports, ahead of China (8.7%), Afghanistan (5.4%), Kazakhstan (4.5%), France (4.1%), Hong Kong (4.0%), Turkey (3.0%), Kyrgyzstan (2.9%), the UAE (2.7%) and Tajikistan (2.3%). Together, these markets accounted for more than half of Uzbekistan’s exports.

Exports of non-monetary gold totalled $2.80bn in January to August, down from $8.33bn a year earlier, reducing gold’s share of total exports to 12.3%.

Fruit and vegetable exports totalled 1.44mn tonnes during the reporting period, down 1.4% y/y, while export earnings in the segment reached $1.18bn, down 6.6% y/y and accounting for 5.2% of total exports.

Textile exports rose 26.9% y/y to $2.1bn, representing 9.4% of Uzbekistan’s exports. Finished textile products accounted for 51.4% of textile exports, while yarn made up 32.2%.

Service exports continued to expand. They increased by 33.8% y/y to $8.5bn, accounting for 37.4% of exports. Travel and tourism generated 54.1% of service export revenues, followed by transport services (30.5%), telecommunications, computer and information services (8.4%) and other business services (2.7%).

Exports of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials increased 4.3% y/y to $1.06bn, accounting for 4.6% of exports. Petroleum and petroleum product exports reached $593.1mn, while natural gas exports stood at $322.3mn and electricity exports at $139.2mn.

On the import side, purchases of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials increased 7.2% y/y to $2.75bn, accounting for 8.0% of total imports. Petroleum and petroleum product imports reached $1.35bn, including $437.4mn worth of motor gasoline. Natural gas imports totalled $1.22bn, while electricity imports stood at $57.5mn.

Machinery and transport equipment remained the largest import category, accounting for 32.6% of imports, followed by manufactured goods (14.7%) and chemicals and related products (12.1%).

Goods imports increased by $4.3bn y/y to $30.0bn, while service imports amounted to $4.6bn.

China supplied 32.4% of Uzbekistan’s imports, ahead of Russia (17.4%), Kazakhstan (7.9%), Turkey (3.6%), South Korea (3.5%), Germany (2.1%) and India (2.1%). Together, these countries accounted for more than 65% of total imports.

Travel and tourism represented the largest component of service imports at 41.0%, followed by transport services (32.4%), other business services (9.7%) and telecommunications, computer and information services (8.4%).