That projected dollar amount reflects a 26.3% increase from $14.3 billion five years earlier in 2019.
Year over year, the overall value of Uzbekistan’s exported products accelerated by 18.5% compared to $15.3 billion for 2022.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2023, the Uzbekistani som depreciated by -32.8% against the US dollar since 2019 and weakened by -6.2% from 2022 to 2023. Its weaker local currency in 2023 made Uzbekistan’s exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively lesser expensive for international buyers.
Uzbekistan’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data from 2022 shows that 80% of products exported from Uzbekistan were bought by importers in: Russia (22.1% of Uzbekistan’s total), mainland China (14.9%), Türkiye (12.4%), Kazakhstan (10.6%), Kyrgyzstan (7.9%), Afghanistan (4.5%), Tajikistan (3.3%), Turkmenistan (1.13%), Poland (1.08%), Azerbaijan (1.08%), Iran (1.06%) and Pakistan (1.05%).
From a continental perspective, about two-thirds (66.9%) of Uzbekistan’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 32.1% was sold to importers in Europe. Uzbekistan shipped another 0.5% worth of goods to North America.
Tinier percentages went to buyers in North America (0.5%), Africa (0.4%), Latin America (0.1%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania’s Fiji and Australia only (0.001%).
Given Uzbekistan’s population of 36 million people, its total $18.1 billion in 2023 exports translates to roughly $500 for every resident in the European nation. That average dollar amount outpaces the $450 per capita one year earlier in 2022.
Uzbekistan’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Uzbekistani global shipments during 2023. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Uzbekistan.
- Gems, precious metals: US$11 billion (61% of total exports)
- Copper: $1.1 billion (6%)
- Fertilizers: $915.7 million (5.1%)
- Cotton: $792.7 million (4.4%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $719.1 million (4%)
- Vehicles: $426.8 million (2.4%)
- Machinery including computers: $310.1 million (1.7%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $281.5 million (1.6%)
- Vegetables: $281.3 million (1.6%)
- Fruits, nuts: $253.4 million (1.4%)
Uzbekistan’s top 10 export categories generated almost nine-tenths (88.9%) of the overall value of its global shipments.
Gems and precious metals was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 156.2% from 2022 to 2023.
In second place for improving export sales was fertilizers via a 121.8% advance.
Uzbekistan’s shipments of vehicles posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 19.3%.
The leading decliner among Uzbekistan’s top 10 export categories was fruits and nuts, recording a -59% year-over-year drop.
The above information is at the two-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
Drilling down at the more granular four-digit HTS codes perspective, unwrought gold represents Uzbekistan’s most valuable exported product at 59.8% of the country’s total. In second place were cotton yarn (4%) trailed by petroleum gases (3.4%), potassic fertilizers (also 3.4%), refined copper and unwrought alloys (3%), copper wire (2.1%), automobile bodies (1.7%), nitrogenous fertilizers (1.4%), radioactive chemical elements (1.23%), then unwrought silver (1.2%).
Products Generating Uzbekistan’s Best Trade Surpluses
The following types of Uzbekistani product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Gems, precious metals: US$11 billion (Up by 158.7% since 2022)
- Copper: $1.1 billion (Down by -3.4%)
- Fertilizers: $781.4 million (Up by 150%)
- Cotton: $744.8 million (Down by -52.4%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $276.8 million (Reversing a -$577.8 million deficit)
- Vegetables: $232.6 million (Down by -38.8%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $178.3 million (Reversing a -$30.3 million deficit)
- Fruits, nuts: $142.4 million (Down by -71.2%)
- Zinc: $108.2 million (Down by -54.3%)
- Other base metals: $48.8 million (Up by 84.4%)
Uzbekistan has notably positive net exports in the international trade of gold. In turn, these cashflows indicate Uzbekistan’s strong competitive advantages under the gems and precious metals category.
Products Causing Uzbekistan’s Best Largest Trade Deficits
Uzbekistan incurred an overall -US$10.6 billion trade deficit for 2023, falling by -18.6% from -$13 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2022.
Below are exports from Uzbekistan that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Uzbekistan’s goods trail Uzbekistani importer spending on foreign products.
- Machinery including computers: -US$5.4 billion (Up by 18.8% since 2022)
- Vehicles: -$5.1 billion (Up by 121.6%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$3.9 billion (Up by 154.7%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$907.4 million (Down by -41.8%)
- Cereals: -$871.7 million (Up by 5.7%)
- Iron, steel: -$810.8 million (Down by -55.5%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$749.7 million (Down by -8.9%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$642.8 million (Down by -22.4%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$568.8 million (Up by 2.1%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: -$491.7 million (Up by 38.4%)
Uzbekistan has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the machinery including computers product category.
Uzbekistani Export Companies
Not one Uzbekistani corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia lists exports-related companies from Uzbekistan. Selected examples are shown below.
- Avialeasing (cargo airliner)
- MAN Auto-Uzbekistan (vehicles)
- Navoi Mining and Metallurgy Combinat (uranium, precious metals)
- SamKochAvto (buses, trucks)
- Tashkent Aviation Production Assoc. (aircraft)
- Uzbekneftegaz (oil, gas)
In macroeconomic terms, Uzbekistan’s total exported goods represent 4.9% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2023 ($373 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 4.9% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2023 exceeds the 4.7% for 2022. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Uzbekistan’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Uzbekistan’s unemployment rate averaged 8.351% in 2023, down from an average 8.851% one year earlier for 2022 according to International Monetary Fund statistics.
Uzbekistan’s capital city is Tashkent, translated as “City of Stones” from Uzbek.
See also Gold Exports by Country, Grapes Exports by Country, India’s Top Trading Partners, China’s Top Trading Partners and Afghanistan’s Top 10 Exports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Central Asia: Uzbekistan. Accessed on September 10, 2024
Forbes 2023 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on September 10, 2024
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on September 10, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on September 10, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 10, 2024
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on September 10, 2024
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Uzbekistan. Accessed on September 10, 2024
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on September 10, 2024