In January-November 2021, Uzbekistan's international trade topped US$ 37.94 billion, a US$ 4.95 billion increase to the same period last year (or by + 15%), the State Statistics Committee said in a report. This is even more than in the pre-COVID period in 2019 (US$ 37.86 billion).

In 11 months, exports exceeded US$ 15.45 billion, which is by 8.9% more than in the same period of 2020. Imports grew by 19.7% to US$ 22.48 billion. The trade deficit reached US$ 7 billion (in January-September 2020 it was US$ 4.5 billion).

In November, export volumes amounted to just over US$ 3 billion, most of this figure accounted for by sales of gold - US$ 1.74 billion (57.7%), as well as gas - US$ 88 million.

Year-to-date, US$ 4.1 billion worth of gold has been sold (26.5% of total exports), textile products - worth US$ 2.65 billion (17.1%), non-ferrous metals - US$ 1.49 billion (9.6% ), gas - US$ 684.8 million (4.4%), vegetables and fruits - by US$ 866.6 million and others (5.6%).

Compared to the pandemic 2020 year, Uzbekistan increased the export of its goods and services to almost all countries from the top 20 partner countries, including China - up to US$ 2.32 billion (+ 32.3%), Russia - up to US$ 1.87 billion (+ 41.6%), Turkey - up to US$ 1.54 billion (+ 71.7%), Kazakhstan - up to US$ 1.05 billion (+ 29.1%), Ukraine - up to US$ 202.6 million (+ 84.1%), Great Britain - up to US$ 133.8 million (3.3 times) and others.

At the same time, exports to Afghanistan fell to US$ 573.2 million (-17.6%) and Germany - to US$ 60.8 million (-3.6%).

Imports also grew from almost all the top 20 partner countries, including Russia - up to US$ 4.73 billion (+ 26.4%), China - up to US$ 4.4 billion (+ 10.6%), Kazakhstan - up to US$ 2.48 billion (+ 37.3%), Turkey - up to US$ 1.5 billion (+ 52.7%), Turkmenistan - up to US$ 450.6 million (+ 29.9%), Ukraine - up to US$ 419.9 million (+ 49.9%), Brazil - up to US$ 331.3 million (4.7 times), Iran - up to US$ 221.5 million (2.4 times).

It should be noted that for the first time since 2017, Russia has ousted China from the top spot line of Uzbekistan's import partners.

While imports fell from countries such as the Republic of Korea - to US$ 1.63 billion (-12.5%), Germany - to US$ 614.6 million (-5%), Latvia - to US$ 161 million (- 45%), Czech Republic - up to US$ 158.6 million (-67.7%).

In 11 months, trade with the EAEU countries amounted to US$ 11.3 billion, exports - US$ 3.7 billion, imports - US$ 7.6 billion.