Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced plans to reduce the export of raw cotton and increase its processing on the domestic market, the press service of the head of state reported on March 30.

“My biggest goal is to provide people with work, a source of income. From now on, we will less export cotton, process it in the country and produce value-added products,” he said during a working visit to Jizzakh region of the republic.

According to statistical agencies, exports of cotton fiber from Uzbekistan in 2017 decreased by 25.2 percent to 477,000 tons, and its share in the structure of exports fell to 3.4 percent. Also, the production fell to 951,900 tons that is 8 percent less.

Currently, Uzbekistan is the world’s sixth-largest cotton producer among 90 cotton-growing countries.

In Uzbekistan, about 3.5 million tons of raw cotton are produced annually. The country produces about 1.1-1.2 million tons of cotton fiber annually, which accounts for about 6 percent of global cotton production. About 50 percent of the cotton fiber produced is shipped for export.

One of the policy priorities of Uzbekistan is further development of its textile industry. Uzbekistan takes consistent steps to increase the volume of cotton fiber processing.

In the period 2010-2014, the textile industry of Uzbekistan received and spent foreign investments worth $785 million while 147 new textile enterprises with participation of investors from Germany, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, the USA, Turkey and other countries were commissioned. Export potential of these enterprises amounted to $670 millions.

---

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz