According to EastFruit analysts, in 2022 Egypt became the main supplier of oranges to Uzbekistan, replacing the previous long-term leader, which was Turkey.
According to our preliminary estimates, the volume of orange imports to Uzbekistan in 2022 set a record having increased by 50% compared to 2021. The main reason for this was the liberalization of imports, as well as the ongoing economic growth in this Central Asian, which contributes to the expansion of produce assortment consumed by the local population.
It should be noted that imports of fresh oranges from Egypt to Uzbekistan increased by 75% in 2022, while imports from Turkey fell by 40%. As a result, the share of Turkish oranges in Uzbek imports decreased from 43% in 2021 to 17% in 2022. At the same time, Turkey immediately dropped to third place in the ranking of suppliers, as it was also overtaken also by Iran, which increased exports of oranges to Uzbekistan by more than 20 times in 2022.
The overall growth in the geography of imports of fresh oranges to Uzbekistan in 2022 was also rather significant. Commercial volumes of oranges were shipped to Uzbekistan by nine countries, three of which, however, were re-exporters.
“A very important indicator of produce market growth in Uzbekistan is a sharp increase in imports of fresh oranges from South Africa by 2.5 times in 2022. Consequently, South Africa became the fourth largest supplier of fresh oranges to Uzbekistan. The peculiarity of this event is that South Africa is in the Southern Hemisphere, therefore it has a season that is mirror in relation to traditional suppliers and it exports oranges at a time when there are a lot of cheap fruits of its own production on the market of Uzbekistan. Therefore, the increase in exotic fruit imports during this period is an indicator of the growing well-being of the country’s population and the growing interest in dietary diversity even in the summer,” says Andriy Yarmak, an economist at the Investment Centre of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
In addition to these countries, the appearance of Zimbabwe among the suppliers of oranges to Uzbekistan attracts particular attention. This African country continues to actively increase the production of fresh oranges and is looking for new markets for its fruits.
The use of the site materials is free if there is a direct and open for search engines hyperlink to a specific publication of the East-Fruit.com website.
