Uzbekistan's 1H23 foreign trade volume rose 19.4% y/y to $29.17bn, the national statistical agency has reported.
Exports amounted to $12.14bn on a 23% y/y expansion. Imports grew somewhat more slowly at 17% y/y, but still much exceeded exports at $17.03bn.
China was Uzbekistan’s main trading partner. Bilateral trade amounted to $5.27bn, or 18% of turnover. Chinese exports accounted for $4.23bn of that figure.
Russia placed second for foreign trade at $4.41bn, followed by Kazakhstan ($2.19bn), Turkey ($1.49bn) and South Korea ($1.03bn).
Exports to France grew sharply, reaching $195mn, up threefold year on year.
Excluding gold, manufactured goods remained the main item on Uzbekistan's list of exported commodities. Even taking into account an 8.9% y/y drop, they brought in $2.13bn, more than 17% of all export revenue. Half of this amount was provided by textiles and fabrics ($1.08bn, -14% y/y).
In imports, heavy industry items were the clear leader at $6.43bn (+29.8% y/).
The country imported $620mn (+56.7% y/y) worth of cars and $667.9mn worth of spare parts. Another $2.1bn was spent on industrial machines and components.
Uzbekistan also significantly increased its imports of fuels and lubricants. Gas supplies increased by 2.6 times to $200mn, and oil and petroleum products by two-thirds to $925.9mn.
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