The Uzbekistan authorities are not eyeing to replace Russian gold in foreign markets. Because of the sanctions, Russian gold mining companies have faced problems in selling their products, said the Deputy Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Shukhrat Vafayev.
“The gold market is quite specific, and we produce much more than we sell. The gold that is produced in Uzbekistan today is fully bought out by the Uzbek Central Bankand is part of the gold and foreign exchange reserves. That is, it is not that we are conducting some sort of marketing to deliberately occupy the niche in the gold market,” Vafaev said.
Uzbekistan produces about 100 tons of gold annually. While, the Central Bank was entitled a priority right to purchase all local refined gold. Gold accounts for about 60% of the international reserves of the local Central Bank.
According to UN statistics, in 2021 Uzbekistan exported $4.1 billion worth of gold, accounting for 29% of the country's total exports, Fitch reported.
Since February 2022, the country has significantly increased the share of gold in the export structure. From January to March, Uzbekistan sold $2.9 billion worth of gold abroad, mainly to non-CIS countries. Sales of precious metals during this period accounted for 52% of total exports.
According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), in 2020, almost 92% of Uzbekistan’s gold exports went to the UK, where the largest international trading hub for this precious metal operates, and 7% ($483 million) of gold was sold to Russia.
Uzbekistan, along with Russia, is among the top ten gold exporters, and in some months the country became the largest seller. This happened, for example, in February 2022, according to the data of the World Gold Council.
In Russia, the growth of gold export abroad began in 2019. Russia sold $17.4 billion worth of gold last year, of which 89% ($15.4 billion) went to the UK.
However, the largest gold miners sold the precious metal through Russian banks, which, after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February-March 2022, are under sanctions. In particular, Petropavlovsk, one of the top 5 Russian gold producers, had a problem with the sale of products. A company registered in the UK sold gold to Gazprombank, which came under UK sanctions.
