Uzbekistan’s international trade in January-February increased by 84.9% - up to 8.73 billion dollars, the State Committee on Statistics said in a report.

The volume of exports reached $4.09 billion (an increase by 2.7 times), imports - $4.63 billion. The trade deficit decreased threefold - to $538.4 million.

Of all exports, gold accounted for 57.7% - or $ 2.36 billion. While, only in February, when gold quotes were growing against the background of the war in Ukraine, exports topped $1.77 billion.

Exports excluding gold increased by 15.7% to $1.73 billion. This was achieved mainly due to the growth in sales of textile products by 31.4% - up to 522.7 million dollars, non-ferrous metals - 256.7 million dollars (+ 13.5%), vegetables and fruits - 113.7 million dollars (+31.3%) and other positions.

Sales of tobacco products also increased - $4.1 million (by 6.5 times), metal ore and scrap - $25.6 million (by 8.2 times), gas - $30.7 million (+5%), oil products - 17.5 million dollars (+87.1%), fertilizers - 38.6 million dollars (3 times), power generating machines and equipment - 9 million dollars (18.2 times), footwear - 5.6 million dollars (+21 ,1%) and other products.

While, exports of passenger cars fell by 60.9% to $20.5 million, plastics to $50.6 million (-15.3%), electrical machinery and tools to $28.8 million (-4, 2%).

Imports of oil and oil products also increased - $240.3 million (+46.4%), medical and pharmaceutical products - $245.9 million (+17.7%), plastics - $127.7 million (by 2.3 times), iron and steel — $392.5 million (+54.3%), machinery — $348.3 million (+18.4%), industrial equipment — $260.6 million (+46.3%) , car parts and accessories — $197 million (+91.3%).

In the Uzbekistan exports, the top countries are Russia (8.5%), China (7.6%) and Turkey (5.8%), in the imports - China (22.6%), Russia (19.5%) and Kazakhstan (10.3%).

Among the 20 major trade partner countries, a positive balance was kept with three countries - Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, although Turkey was also on this list last year. With the remaining 17 countries, there is a deficit.