Gold sales down 2.7 times and gasoline imports sharply increasing - Uzbekistan's foreign trade review
In the first 7 months of 2026, gold worth $2.8 billion was sold. This figure was $7.6 billion in the same period in 2025. The precious metal was exported only in April and July. One-third of the value of products imported to Uzbekistan comes from China. There was a sharp 9-fold increase in trade with Hong Kong.
**2.7-Fold Gold Trade and Sharp Increase in Gasoline Imports: A Review of Uzbekistan's Foreign Trade**
In January-July 2026, Uzbekistan's foreign trade turnover amounted to $49.5 billion. This figure represents an increase of $3.7 billion or 8.1% compared to the same period in 2025.
During this period, exports amounted to $19.9 billion, a decrease of 3.6%, while imports reached $29.6 billion, an increase of 17.8%. As a result, the negative foreign trade balance increased to $9.7 billion. At the same time, exports excluding gold increased by 27.7% compared to the same period last year, amounting to $9.8 billion.
The main share of foreign trade turnover in the reporting period was carried out with China (22.7 percent), Russia (16.4 percent), Kazakhstan (6.6 percent), Turkey (3.3 percent) and Afghanistan (2.5 percent).
In the first seven months of 2026, compared to the same period in 2025, the largest trade growth in value terms was accounted for by China (+2.83 billion dollars), Russia (+859.2 million dollars), Hong Kong ($691.6 million) and Kazakhstan (+631.2 million dollars).
The fastest growing directions were Hong Kong (9.1 times), Vietnam (+77.2 percent), Kyrgyzstan (+53.8 percent) and Afghanistan (+45.8 percent). The sharp increase in trade with Hong Kong can be explained by the intensification of cooperation in the gold sector with this special administrative region of China.
In general, among the top twenty major trading partners, only India (-6.6 percent) and Germany (-2.6 percent) experienced a decrease in trade volumes.
Gold sales decreased by 63.1 percent, amounting to $2.8 billion. This accounts for 14.1 percent of total exports. Since the beginning of the year, sales of the precious metal have been carried out only in April and July.
Also, services (36.8 percent), industrial goods (14.4 percent), various manufactured goods (8.4 percent), chemicals (7.8 percent), food products and live animals (7.7 percent), and mineral fuels (4.7 percent) also had a significant share in the export structure.