From December 1 to December 20, 2021, Uzbekistan imported 60,4 thousand tons of potatoes, analysts say Eastfruit citing data from the Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
At the same time, the volume of imports of products into the country for the period from January 1 to December 20, 2021 amounted to 516,2 thousand tons, which is already 23% higher than for the whole of 2020. Although last year's indicators were also called record: recall, according to analysts EastfruitIn 2020, Uzbekistan imported 421 thousand tons of marketable potatoes (almost one and a half times more than in 2019).
Potatoes have become the main import item in Uzbekistan's fruit and vegetable sector over the past few years. Until 2016, the annual import volume of potatoes did not exceed 50 thousand tons per year, and in 2017 the import of these products amounted to 194 thousand tons. Accordingly, from 2017 to 2021, the volume of imports increased 2,7 times.
To reduce dependence on imports, the government of the republic plans to dramatically increase the area under potato sowing in 2022. As reported National News Agency of Uzbekistan, the projected potato planting area will be 122 thousand hectares, which is 40% more than in 2021.
In July 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture of Uzbekistan and the International Potato Center (CIP) launched a five-year program “Improving food security and climate resilience in Uzbekistan through breeding and seed production of potatoes and sweet potatoes”. The expected result of this program is an increase in the yield of potatoes produced in the republic by at least 30%.
At the beginning of December 2021 of the year Eastfruit wrote that at the end of 2021, the total import of potatoes to Uzbekistan for the first time may exceed 500 thousand tons and, with a high degree of probability, Uzbekistan will take the 5th place in the ranking of the largest potato importing countries in the world, behind Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy.
Moreover, in terms of the volume of net imports, i.e. for fresh consumption domestically, Uzbekistan could take first place in the world, surpassing Italy, which exports early potatoes (given that Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany import a significant part of potatoes for processing needs and export the finished product - frozen French fries and other products from potatoes).