That dollar amount reflects a 39.2% increase from $10.1 billion in 2017.
Year over year, the overall value of Uzbekistan’s exported products increased by 6.9% compared to $13.1 billion for 2020.
Uzbekistan’s top 5 most valuable exports are unwrought gold, cotton yarn, refined copper and unwrought alloys, petroleum gases, and ethylene polymers. Added together, that quintet of major Uzbekistani exports represents over half (53.3%) of Uzbekistan’s overall shipments in 2021.
Uzbekistan’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 79.6% of products exported from Uzbekistan were bought by importers in: mainland China (16.7% of Uzbekistan’s global total), Russia (16.3%), Turkey (15.7%), Kazakhstan (9.8%), Kyrgyzstan (7.4%), Afghanistan (4.7%), Tajikistan (3.1%), Ukraine (2.2%), Iran (1.6%), Pakistan (1.2%), Turkmenistan (0.9%) and Poland (0.8%).
Uzbekistan’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Uzbekistani global shipments during 2021. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Uzbekistan.
- Gems, precious metals: US$4.5 billion (32.3% of total exports)
- Cotton: $1.9 billion (13.7%)
- Copper: $1.2 billion (8.3%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $883.4 million (6.3%)
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $577.8 million (4.1%)
- Fruits, nuts: $511.8 million (3.6%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $406.6 million (2.9%)
- Vegetables: $404.1 million (2.9%)
- Vehicles : $375.1 million (2.7%)
- Fertilizers: $347.1 million (2.5%)
Uzbekistan’s top 10 exports accounted for 79.3% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Fertilizers represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 127.7% from 2020 to 2021.
In second place for improving export sales were vehicles via a 80.8% advance.
Uzbekistan’s shipments of copper posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 60.6%.
The leading decliner among Uzbekistan’s top 10 export categories was gems and precious metals (down -23.9%), a product category dragged down by lower revenues from Uzbekistan’s exports of gold.
From the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, unwrought gold represents Uzbekistan’s most valuable exported product at 29.2% of the country’s total. In second place were cotton yarn (11.4%) trailed by refined copper and unwrought alloys (5.3%), petroleum gases (5.1%), ethylene polymers (2.2%), cars (2%), wheat or meslin flour (also 2%), copper wire (1.9%), nitrogenous fertilizers (1.7%), then fresh or dried grapes (1.5%).
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$4.4 billion (Down by -24.8% since 2020)
- Cotton: $1.9 billion (Up by 61.9%)
- Copper: $1.2 billion (Up by 65%)
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $552.5 million (Up by 25.2%)
- Fruits, nuts: $443.9 million (Down by -16.8%)
- Fertilizers: $323.5 million (Up by 429.4%)
- Vegetables: $321.7 million (Down by -8.8%)
- Zinc: $197.3 million (Up by 30.1%)
- Knit or crochet fabric: $179.7 million (Up by 80.8%)
- Milling products, malt, starches: $152.6 million (Up by 49.2%)
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 -$9.7 billion trade deficit for 2021, expanding by 41.9% from -$6.8 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2020.
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$4.1 billion (Down by -11.2% since 2020)
- Vehicles: -$1.7 billion (Up by 6.3%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$1.57 billion (Up by 38.8%)
- Iron, steel: -$1.53 billion (Up by 33.3%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$1.4 billion (Up by 32.0%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$749.2 million (Up by 62.5%)
- Wood: -$669.4 million (Up by 19.0%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: -$657.6 million (Up by 45.7%)
- Cereals: -$654.4 million (Up by 13.4%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$635.4 million (Up by 1.5%)
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 4.7% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2021 ($296.7 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 4.7% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2021 compares to 4.9% for 2020. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing 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 9.5% in 2021, down from an average 10.531% one year earlier for 2020 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 July 28, 2022
Forbes 2021 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 28, 2022
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity)
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 28, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 28, 2022
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on July 28, 2022
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Uzbekistan. Accessed on July 28, 2022
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on July 28, 2022
