Key facts
- Uzbekistan is centralizing its export strategy around a processing drive.
- The strategy aims to retain more value from agricultural goods, metals, and minerals.
- Uzbekistan aims for $10 billion in food processing exports by 2030.
- The country has a $4.2 billion pipeline for technological metals projects.
Uzbekistan is undertaking a significant strategic shift to enhance its export revenue by focusing on higher-value processing of its agricultural goods, metals, and minerals. The central aim of this initiative is to capture more economic value within the country by processing raw materials domestically rather than exporting them in their unprocessed state. A key target is the food processing sector, with the government setting an ambitious goal of achieving $10 billion in food processing exports by the year 2030. This represents a substantial increase and indicates a strong focus on developing value-added agricultural products. In parallel, Uzbekistan is also targeting its mineral resources, particularly technological metals. The country has identified a pipeline of projects valued at $4.2 billion specifically for the development and processing of these technological metals. This dual focus on agricultural and mineral processing is expected to drive economic growth and create new employment opportunities within Uzbekistan.