Horticulture in Uzbekistan

By June 2020, the activation of exports began to cause discontent on the part of the population of Uzbekistan. We believe this is not entirely justified since the development of exports of fruit and vegetable products allows rural residents to improve their living standards and expand production, creating a large number of well-paid jobs. Also, the expansion of exports of fruit and vegetable products creates new jobs in cities as export requires packaging, logistics, financing, insurance, and a host of other related products and services. Accordingly, the increase in income exceeds the increase in product prices. In the long run, exports also lead to a decrease in domestic prices because high prices stimulate new investments in production, which means that the supply of products is growing. If there is interference with exports then production will be curtailed due to disadvantages, which means that prices will be much higher in the long run.
EastFruit’s June audit of the fruit and vegetable departments of supermarkets in Tashkent showed that retail prices for most types of fruits and berries in the capital of Uzbekistan increased significantly over the year. Consumers paid on average 37% more for the same set of fruits as at the end of June 2019.
In July 2020, exports of fresh fruits and vegetables from Uzbekistan reached its peak. However, the export results for the first half of the year were not encouraging. Exports of fruits and vegetables fell by 40%, but official sources spoke of an increase in production volumes.
Also in July, EastFruit summed up the results of the retail audit of the fruit and vegetable departments of Uzbekistan where Korzinka.uz was the leader. However, this was before several large players entered the country’s market at once in the second half of the year, after which the market situation changed dramatically.
In this regard, there have been many reports of investments in infrastructure for the storage and processing of fruits and vegetables. Therefore, the blog “Top-10 mistakes in planning the infrastructure of the fruit and vegetable market (wholesale markets, storage facilities, distribution centres, etc.),” published in early August on EastFruit was actively discussed in Uzbekistan.
In August 2020, much attention was paid to the infrastructure of the horticulture business in Uzbekistan. Plans included the construction of a huge trade and distribution centre on its border with Kazakhstan, creating a transit corridor for the delivery of Uzbek products to Afghanistan and Iran, the Netherlands announced the possibility of helping Uzbekistan to create a new system of knowledge and innovation in agriculture, and China sought about helping Uzbekistan to improve its work in phytosanitary laboratories.
However, there were also negative events. The first was a ban on plum imports from Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan due to the detection of quarantine organisms in its products. By the end of 2020, there were many more such events. Meanwhile, the pace of fruit and vegetable exports still lagged behind 2019.