Vegetables and fruits for export: what is popular?

Since July 1, 2017, all business entities have been granted the right to export vegetables and fruits on the basis of direct contracts and 100% prepayment terms. This decision is enshrined in the Decree of the President of the country "On measures to further support domestic exporting organizations and improve foreign economic activity". How has the situation with the export of fresh fruits and vegetables changed? How much of the crop is sent abroad today and to which countries?

The questions were answered by a representative of Uzagroexport JSC.

— How many farms belonging to the JSC decided to work directly with foreign partners?

- Uzagroexport JSC exports fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products in partnership with more than 600 farms and exporting enterprises of the country. Of these, only about 200 have started working directly with foreign partners.

— What are the advantages for farmers of such work "directly" and what are the disadvantages?

- Plus — possible additional profit, but numerous disadvantages often make this advantage questionable: the risks are much more significant. They are connected from a logistical point of view with storage and transportation. In addition, it is not always possible to guess in which market" today "or" in a week " there will be demand for a particular product, or, conversely, where the supply prevails.

— How many partners does Uzagroexport have today: foreign (buyers) and domestic (farmers, producers, sellers)?

- Currently, Uzagroexport has more than 250 partners in 48 countries, where fruit and vegetable products are systematically supplied from Uzbekistan, and cooperates with more than 1000 domestic producers and farms.

— Has the new presidential decree affected export growth?

- The adoption of the decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated July 27, 2017 gave a new impetus to domestic producers and exporters. In a short period of time (15 days at the time of writing), exports of fruit and vegetable products increased by 10% compared to the same period last month.

— Have new contracts been signed with farmers and dehkan farms for the supply of fruit and vegetable products this year?

— Yes, new contracts for the shipment of fruit and vegetable products have been signed this year. In general, the export of fruit and vegetable products for 2017 is projected at 1.27 million tons. To date, Uzagroexport JSC has firm contracts that ensure the full export of products intended for shipment in the current year.

What do we export and where?

— What range of products are exported? Do they export potatoes and onions?

— It depends on the seasonality of products. Our lemons, cherries, apricots, tomatoes, apples, peaches, nectarines, plums, melons, grapes, herbs, dried fruits, etc.are successfully exported to foreign markets. Potatoes and onions are currently not exported, as there is a huge demand for these products on the domestic market.

— Is meat exported?

- In accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated April 15, 2016, Uzagroexport JSC exports only fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products.

— To which countries and in what volumes (on average) are our fruit and vegetable products exported?

— The largest importers are the Russian Federation (73,000 tons of fruit and vegetable products worth $ 57 million have been exported since the beginning of this year) and Kazakhstan (252,000 tons worth $ 179 million).

The largest volume of fruit and vegetable exports goes to Kazakhstan (57%), Russia (29%), Kyrgyzstan (36%), Iran (15%).

— Is the export of fruit and vegetable products growing every year?

— If in 2015 the volume of exported fruit and vegetable products was 589,000 tons, in 2016 exports increased by 25% and amounted to 795,000 tons, and in 7 months of this year-445,000 tons.

— What new countries will our fruit and vegetable products be exported to in the near future?

— The geography of export of domestic products is expanding every year. Since this year, our products have been actively entering the markets of Eastern Europe and South-East Asia, in particular, the Baltic states, Japan, Myanmar, etc. are of particular interest.