The Head of State was presented with information on the current work in the food industry and plans for 2025.
In the context of a growing population, ensuring food security is becoming an increasingly urgent task. Global climate change, shortage of land and water resources create additional difficulties in agriculture. Despite this, this year Uzbekistan harvested 9 million tons of grain, over 3 million tons of cotton, over 16 million tons of vegetables and melons, 5 million tons of fruits and grapes, 4 million tons of potatoes, as well as over 15 million tons of meat and milk. In the food industry, 343 projects were realized.
At the same time, there are significant opportunities for localizing production. The production of bread, meat and dairy products, vegetable oil, confectionery and soft drinks is set to increase.
Specific measures in these areas were discussed at the meeting.
In recent years, the export of confectionery products has increased four times and reached $13 million. Due to the possibility of direct import of raw materials, packaging products and labels, the cost of production has decreased by 20 percent, which has significantly increased competitiveness.
These benefits expire on January 1, 2025. In order to support producers, a proposal to extend the benefits for another 2 years is under consideration.
There are 408 enterprises in the oil and fat industry, but the shortage of raw materials in the country does not allow them to work at full capacity. If the export of oil and fat products is allowed, the volume of production may increase by 120 thousand tons, 240 thousand tons of feed meal will be produced additionally.
Deputy Prime Minister has been instructed to submit proposals on this issue, considering the requirements of the market.
The number of national brands with “halal” certification is increasing, they are actively exporting meat products to the countries of the region and Arab states. However, the standard shelf life of sausage products is set as 3 months, of which 2 months are spent on delivery to foreign consumers. If the storage period is brought in line with European standards and increased to 4-12 months, production and exports could be doubled. In this regard, it has been instructed to adapt the relevant standards to international standards.
To expand the production of dairy products, it was pointed to the need to organize testing laboratories in Namangan, Samarkand and Tashkent regions. The practice of labeling such products on the use of natural or dried milk in production will be introduced.
The production of soft drinks and beverages, natural juices from fruits and vegetables is actively developing. Over the last five years, their exports have increased nine times and reached $35 million. However, due to existing duties on imports of tropical fruits and orange juice concentrate, the products are inferior in competitiveness to the goods of other countries. In this regard, it was proposed to exempt imports of tropical fruit concentrate from customs duties.
At the meeting, the officials reported on the mutually beneficial partnership with sectoral enterprises within the framework of the “From Poverty to Prosperity” program. The President instructed to further improve the quality and scale of the work carried out next year.