Watermelon is confidently emerging as one of the standout stars of Uzbekistan’s fruit and vegetable exports in 2025. In just two months – May and June – export volumes in physical terms have already significantly exceeded the annual figures of previous years, according to EastFruit experts.
As in the past few years, large-scale exports of the new watermelon harvest from Uzbekistan began in May. According to international trade statistics and the National Statistics Committee, in the first two months of the current season — May and June 2025 — Uzbekistan exported 127.4 thousand tonnes of fresh watermelon. This is 22% higher than the previous record set for the entire year of 2023. Thus, the new record has been reached in just two months of the current season.
In terms of export geography, more than 98% of total shipments in May–June 2025 went to three countries: Russia (66 thousand tonnes), Kazakhstan (41.9 thousand tonnes), and Kyrgyzstan (17.7 thousand tonnes). The remaining share — less than 1.5% of total exports — was shipped to Belarus (968 tonnes), Mongolia (618 tonnes), and other countries (180 tonnes).
Read also: High Prices for Uzbek “Torpedo” Melons Amid Peak Export Season
Back in September 2023, EastFruit experts conducted a detailed analysis of the growing trend in Uzbekistan’s fresh watermelon exports and identified the key factors behind the record results achieved in 2022–2023. These factors included: shifting the start of large-scale exports to earlier dates and boosting shipment volumes in the very first month of the season, made possible by greenhouse technologies.
It is clear that breaking the previous historical record in the first two months of the current export season is a continuation of the trend observed in recent years: earlier market entry for the new harvest and increased availability of early-season watermelons.
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