Uzbekistan exported US$ 78.87 million worth of cotton fiber in 2020, a 65.35% decrease to 2019. The decrease was due to the production and export of high value-added textile products.
In accordance with the President’s Measures to widely introduce market principles in the cotton sector decree dated March 6, 2020, the plan of production and compulsory sale of raw cotton in the country, the practice of setting its price by the state was abolished.
In recent years, Uzbekistan has been reducing cotton exports year by year. In particular, 416 thousand tons of cotton fiber were exported in 2016, 278.9 thousand tons in 2017 and 115.6 thousand tons in 2018.
Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Sardor Umurzakov said in an interview with Japan's Nikkei Asian Review in 2019 that the country would stop exporting cotton fiber. He said that by 2025, Uzbekistan plans to export US$ 8 billion a year in textiles.
