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Uzbekistan’s services exports have become the largest source of revenue — thanks to tourism
In January–July 2026, Uzbekistan’s foreign trade turnover amounted to $49.5 billion, increasing by 8.1% compared with the same period last year. This follows from preliminary data from the National Statistics Committee, reviewed by Gazeta.
Exports fell by 3.6% to $19.93 billion, while imports rose by 17.8% to $29.6 billion. As a result, the negative foreign trade balance reached $9.67 billion, compared with $4.44 billion a year earlier — that is, it increased by about 2.2 times.
At the same time, exports of goods excluding gold amounted to $9.8 billion, increasing by 27.7% year on year.
China remains Uzbekistan’s largest trading partner: trade turnover with it over seven months grew by 33.6% and reached $11.26 billion, compared with $8.43 billion a year earlier. It is followed by Russia — $8.13 billion (+11.8%) and Kazakhstan — $3.27 billion (+24%). China accounted for 22.7% of the country’s total foreign trade turnover, Russia — 16.4%, Kazakhstan — 6.6%.
Gold
One of the main reasons for the decline in total exports remains the drop in shipments of non-monetary gold.
In January–July, Uzbekistan exported $2.8 billion worth of gold, compared with $7.59 billion in the same period of 2025. Thus, the volume decreased by 63.1%, or about 2.7 times.
The share of gold in total exports fell from 36.7% to 14.1%.
Against this backdrop, the structure of exports continued to change. The share of services rose from 26.2% to 36.8% (last year it was 24.1%), industrial goods — from 11.3% to 14.4%, chemical products — from 5.6% to 7.8%, and various finished goods — from 4.3% to 8.4%.
Exports
The largest export item in the first seven months was services.
Their volume increased by 35.3% — from $5.42 billion to $7.33 billion. More than half of services exports — 53.8%, or $3.94 billion — came from travel (tourism), a figure that rose by 55% compared with the same period last year ($2.5 billion).
Transport services amounted to $2.32 billion (31.7%), telecommunications, computer and information services — $622 million (8.5%), and other business services — $209.5 million (2.9%).
Exports of industrial goods grew by 22.4% to $2.87 billion. Within this group, shipments of textile yarn, fabrics and finished products reached $1.15 billion (+26.3%), non-ferrous metals — $1.04 billion (+7.8%), and products from non-metallic minerals — $207.7 million (+29.7%). Exports of pig iron and steel almost doubled to $185.1 million (+91.5%).
Exports of various finished goods grew by 89.1% — from $890.4 million to $1.68 billion. In particular, shipments of clothing and accessories increased by 30% to $752.3 million. Exports of other finished goods not included in other categories grew 3.2 times to $868.4 million.
Shipments of machinery and transport equipment increased by 34.9% to $757.2 million. Exports of other transport equipment reached $115.7 million and grew by 59.6%, power-generating machinery — $119.4 million (+38.9%), and telecommunications and sound-recording apparatus — $61.6 million (3.5 times). At the same time, exports of automobiles fell by 2.2% to $157.2 million.
Exports of chemical substances and similar products increased by 35% to $1.56 billion.
The main part consisted of inorganic chemical substances — $944.8 million (+47.2%). Exports of fertilizers grew by 1.4% to $255.3 million, plastics in primary forms — by 25.2% to $167.8 million. Medical and pharmaceutical products were exported for $39.7 million (+53.6%).
Exports of food products and live animals amounted to $1.54 billion, increasing by 2.3%. Their share in total exports rose from 7.3% to 7.7%.
Fruits and vegetables
In January–July, Uzbekistan exported 1.284 million tons of fruit and vegetable products — 5.5 thousand tons, or 0.4%, more than a year earlier.
At the same time, in monetary terms exports fell by 3.9% — from $1.067 billion to $1.025 billion. Fruit and vegetable products accounted for 5.1% of total exports.
Fruit exports in monetary terms decreased from $330.8 million to $308 million (-6.9%), while physical volume fell from 290.8 thousand to 251 thousand tons (-13.7%).
Shipments of cherries fell from $72.5 million to $59.9 million (-17.4%), apricots — from $46.7 million to $32.4 million (-30.6%), and dried grapes — from $73.3 million to $62.1 million (-15.3%).
At the same time, exports of peaches grew from $80.5 million to $91.7 million (+13.9%), and grapes — from $24.9 million to $28.9 million (+16.1%).
Vegetable exports, by contrast, increased from $165.9 million to $200.5 million (+20.9%). Onion shipments grew to $89.3 million (+12%), cabbage — to $54.7 million (+12.3%), tomatoes — to $34.4 million (+38.7%), and carrots — to $13.1 million (+63.7%).
Exports of melons and watermelons reached $55.1 million, increasing by 31.5%.
Textile exports grew
In the first seven months, textile exports reached $1.9 billion — 26.6% more than a year earlier.
Textiles accounted for 9.5% of total exports. In the export structure, the main share was made up of finished textile products — 52.2% — and yarn — 31.4%.
Imports
Imports of goods grew by $4.1 billion and reached $26 billion, while services amounted to $3.6 billion.
The largest import item remains machinery and transport equipment. Their shipments grew by 20% to $9.7 billion, and their share in total imports increased from 32.2% to 32.8%.
Imports of automobiles and other transport equipment amounted to $2.4 billion (+27.9%). In particular, shipments of passenger cars and other vehicles intended mainly for transporting passengers grew by 73.5% to $920.4 million. Imports of automobile parts and accessories increased by 10.9% to $1.09 billion.
Imports of electrical machinery and equipment grew by 38.1% to $1.59 billion, and power-generating machinery — by 48.2% to $989.7 million. Shipments of telecommunications equipment increased by 87.5% to $1.01 billion.
At the same time, imports of machinery specifically designed for individual industries fell by 11% to $1.38 billion, and other transport equipment — by 16.5% to $398.3 million. In particular, aircraft shipments amounted to $202 million, down 41.5%.
Food
Among major categories, shipments of food and live animals continued to grow at the fastest pace.
In January–July, their imports increased by 41.9% — from $2.32 billion to $3.29 billion. The share of food in total imports rose from 9.2% to 11.1%.
Imports of cereals and cereal products grew by 60.7% to $864.9 million, meat and meat products — by 36.7% to $574 million, and sugar, sugar products and honey — by 51.2% to $434 million.
Shipments of vegetables and fruits increased by 31.9% to $352.8 million, dairy products and eggs — by 32.9% to $244.3 million, and animal feed — by 42.6% to $217.5 million.
Imports of chemical products grew by 15.6% to $3.59 billion. At the same time, shipments of medical and pharmaceutical products declined slightly — by 0.8% to $1.11 billion, while imports of organic chemical substances grew by 43% to $295.2 million.
Energy resources
Imports of mineral fuels, lubricating oils and similar materials increased by 10.7% to $2.51 billion.
In particular, imports of oil and petroleum products amounted to $1.34 billion (+15.1%), and natural and artificial gas — $1.01 billion (+8.2%). Imports of liquefied gas (propane) grew 3.6 times to $105.4 million.
Imports of gasoline increased by 60.8% in monetary terms to $426 million. Shipments of diesel fuel changed little — they rose by 1.1% to $163.3 million.
Imports of electricity fell by 17.9% to $55.8 million. At the same time, its exports grew by 30.3% to $134 million.
Imports of services for the seven months amounted to $3.62 billion, increasing by 13.3%. Travel (tourism) accounted for 43.6% of services imports, or $1.58 billion, and transport — 27.4%, or $989.6 million.
China remains the largest source of imports — $9.56 billion, or 32.3% of the total. Goods and services worth $5.3 billion were imported from Russia, and $2.4 billion from Kazakhstan. In total, Uzbekistan imported goods and services from more than 160 countries.
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