Between January and April 2026, Uzbekistan imported natural gas worth $508.3 million, the National Statistics Committee said in a report.
This represents a 53.6% surge compared to the same period last year. According to the committee's updated data, gas imports for January–April 2025 stood at $330.9 million.
Notably, in the report published a year ago, the import volume for that exact same period was initially stated as $150.5 million. This reveals a $180.4 million discrepancy between the newly adjusted figures and the initially reported data for early 2025.
A month-by-month breakdown of 2026 imports shows that "blue fuel" deliveries reached $167.6 million in January, dropped to $34.6 million in February, and climbed back up to $158.3 million in March and $147.8 million in April.
Conversely, natural gas exports over the four-month period shrank to $129.4 million. This marks a 35.2% decline compared to the $199.7 million recorded during the same timeframe last year.
The statistical report indicates that export deliveries ceased entirely in January before resuming in February at a modest $7.1 million. Outbound shipments then rose to $29.4 million in March and expanded to $92.7 million in April.
Data from the General Administration of Customs of China paints a more specific picture of these trade flows, showing that Uzbekistan exported $46.05 million worth of natural gas to China between January and April. This trade consisted of minor deliveries totaling $1.09 million in January, followed by a two-month hiatus before registering a significant batch worth $44.97 million in April.
According to Chinese customs data, Uzbekistan supplied gas worth $143 million to China between January and April 2025, representing a 3.1-fold increase. Furthermore, deliveries continued uninterrupted across all four months of that period.
Historically, nearly all of the natural gas exported by Uzbekistan was destined for China. Gazeta has repeatedly pointed out that data from Chinese customs regarding Uzbek gas imports is consistently higher than the figures published by the Uzbek side. For instance, at the close of 2025, China valued its gas imports from Uzbekistan at $773.3 million. Meanwhile, according to Uzbek statistical agencies, the nation’s total natural gas exports globally—not just to China—stood at only $628.8 million. This created a discrepancy of $144.5 million.
Over a six-year period spanning from 2020 to 2025, the total statistical mismatch between the two countries' reporting on gas deliveries reached $687.2 million.
By the end of the January–April 2026 period, the reporting gap remained significant at over $83.3 million. However, the trend reversed: this time, the Uzbek side reported a higher export volume than recorded by Chinese customs.
Theoretically, a portion of this gas could have been shipped to other neighboring countries, such as Tajikistan or Kyrgyzstan. Yet, according to official Kyrgyz trade statistics, no Uzbek gas was imported there between January and March. While Tajikistan does not publicly disclose its gas import volumes, historical data shows its purchases in previous years have been negligible.
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