On January 11, 2022, the upper house of the Parliament of Uzbekistan approved a draft law, according to which tax incentives for the import and sale of a number of food products, including potatoes, are extended until April 30, 2022, experts report. Eastfruit.
On October 21, 2021, as a factor in curbing the growth of prices for potatoes in the domestic market, the Senate of the Oliy Majlis (upper house of parliament) of the country approved a law amending the Tax Code, which provides for the zero value added tax (VAT) on the import and sale of a number of food products. products, including potatoes. According to this document, from October 10 to December 31, 2021, imports and sales of these goods were exempt from VAT.
Upon the expiration of these tax incentives, on January 11, 2022, the upper house of the country's parliament approved a law amending the Tax Code, according to which, until April 30, 2022, the import and sale of a number of food products, including potatoes, are exempt from VAT.
The decision to exempt from VAT on the import and sale of potatoes, adopted by the country's legislators on October 21, 2021, served as a factor in curbing further price increases for these products on the domestic market. From November 4, 2021 to January 7, 2022, the average wholesale prices for potatoes in Uzbekistan ranged from 4500 to 5000 sum/kg ($0,42 - 0,51).
As of January 7, 2022, the average wholesale prices for this product are 5000 UZS/kg ($0,46), which is almost one and a half times higher than on the same date in 2021 and 2,3 times higher than on the same date in 2020 of the year.
In 2021, potato imports to Uzbekistan exceeded half a million tons for the first time, updating the 2020 record. According to EastFruit analysts, for the whole of 2021, the country imported 559,1 thousand tons of potatoes, which is 33% more than in 2020.
Potato has become the main import position of the fruit and vegetable sector of Uzbekistan over the past few years. Until 2016, the annual volume of potato imports did not exceed 50 thousand tons per year, and in 2017 the import of this product amounted to 194 thousand tons. Accordingly, from 2017 to 2021, the volume of imports increased by almost 3 times.
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