$50 million will be allocated to electrical engineering enterprises for the purchase of copper

$50 million will be allocated to electrical engineering enterprises for copper procurement

A new financial mechanism for copper procurement will be introduced in electrical engineering enterprises. This was announced during a presentation on taking the electrical engineering industry to a new level and supporting the production of competitive products, which President Shavkat Mirziyoyev familiarized himself with.

It was noted that in recent years, the production volume in the electrical engineering sector has reached 43.1 trillion soums from 4.7 trillion soums in 2018, and exports have exceeded $1 billion. Currently, Uzbekistan's electrical products are supplied to 65 countries.

It was emphasized that the composition of products in the sector is also changing. The production and export of products made from copper have increased, while the share of low-value products has decreased.

It was reported that 80 percent of the domestic demand for household appliances is covered by local products, and 30 percent of the manufactured products are exported.

It was stated that hundreds of new types of products, such as solar panels, high-voltage cables, electric vehicle charging stations, vacuum circuit breakers, high-voltage disconnectors, and heat pumps, have been mastered.

In the seven months of this year, products worth 30 trillion soums were produced in the sector, and exports worth $706 million were secured. It was mentioned that 16 projects worth $148 million were launched, creating 1.2 thousand jobs.

By the end of the year, the task has been set to produce products worth 51 trillion soums, bring exports to $1.6 billion, and launch 67 projects worth $420 million.

During the presentation, plans to increase production volume in the electrical engineering and related industries to $11 billion, exports to $5 billion, attract $3 billion in investments, and bring the value added to copper to 35 percent by 2030 were reviewed.

It was stated that the country has the necessary raw material base and market for this. More than 150 thousand tons of copper cathode are produced annually, and it was instructed to bring this figure to 300 thousand tons through new capacities.

It was also noted that there are plans to launch 15 gigawatts of solar and wind power plants, which will create a $500 million annual order market for electrical products.

It was pointed out that some enterprises lack collateral to obtain loans for working capital, convenient financial instruments are required when purchasing copper raw materials through the commodity exchange, and there is a need to expand guaranteed mechanisms to attract major international brands.

It was stated that the growing construction of residential housing is also increasing the demand for electrical products.

In this regard, new mechanisms for financial support of industry enterprises were proposed. In particular, when purchasing copper raw materials, enterprises will pay 25 percent of the payment, and the remaining 75 percent will be covered by "Uzpromexport" JSC.

Enterprises will repay these funds within 90 days at an annual rate of up to 6 percent. Resources worth $50 million will be directed for these purposes.

Earlier, it was reported that in Uzbekistan, enterprises' investments in fixed capital increased 3-fold over five years, reaching 363 trillion soums.