Imports of gas of, coal, oil and oil products spiked in Uzbekistan in Q1 of 2023, the Statistics Agency said in a report.
In just three months, gas worth $152.9 million was imported, but almost the entire volume fell on March - $151.2 million. In value (not physical) terms, this is by 2.6 times more than in January-March 2022, as well as slightly more than half of the imports of this raw material for the entire last year ($281.9 million).
Gas exports topped $3.7 million in January, $3.7 million in February, and $20.4 million in March. While, according to Chinese customs statistics, Uzbekistan did not export gas to China. Most likely, gas was delivered to the neighboring countries, including Kyrgyzstan.
In January-March, Uzbekistan imported coal worth $45.2 million ($13.2 million in January, $16 million in February, and $16 million in March), which is 61.7% more than in Q1 of last year.
Imports of oil and oil products increased by 43.3% to $510 million ($135.1 million in January, $152.5 million in February, and $222.4 million in March).
In January, the Statistics Agency did not publish data on imports and exports of electricity. In February-March, Uzbekistan imported electricity for $34.4 million and exported it for $18.9 million.
Thus, Uzbekistan spent $742.5 million on the import of these energy resources, which is almost 2 times more than in Q1 of last year.
Spike in imports of gas, electricity and coal occurs against the backdrop of a decline in their domestic production. As reported earlier, in Q1, gas production in the country fell by 9.6% compared to the same period last year, in March it was less by 12.9%. The volume of electricity production for three months decreased by 5%. Heat and coal production also fell.
