According to the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan, in the first half of 2021, the exports volume of apricot amounted to only 8.8 thousand mt worth $ 7.7 million. In the same period last year, the republic exported 6.5 times more – 56.9 thousand mt. Considering that the season for exporting fresh apricots from Uzbekistan to foreign markets lasts three months – from May to July, the above data for the first half of the year can be attributed to two months – May-June. Thus, the exports of Uzbek apricots in May-June 2021 decreased 6.5 times in physical terms compared to the same period last year. However, there is an important note: the exports of apricots from Uzbekistan in 2020 was a record one.
Even without taking into account the record last year, the exports of fresh apricots in May-June 2021 decreased several times compared to the same period in previous years. For example: 5.3 times by 2019, 3.5 times – 2018, 2.2 times – 2017.
The three post-Soviet countries account for 96% of the exports of Uzbek apricot in May-June 2021:
Kazakhstan – 4.0 thousand mt (45% of the total exports volume of fresh apricots);
Russia – 3.1 thousand mt (35%)
Kyrgyzstan – 1.4 thousand mt (16%)
At the same time, 81% of the exports volume of fresh apricots was shipped to foreign markets from three regions of Uzbekistan – Fergana (47%), Tashkent (22%) and Namangan (13%) regions. Accordingly, the total share of the remaining 11 regions of the republic in the exports of fresh apricots was 19%.