From January to May, Kyrgyzstan imported 11.4 thousand tons of tomatoes from Turkmenistan, Tazabek reported on August 8, citing data from the National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Imports in monetary terms amounted to $6.6 million, or an average of $581 per ton.
Compared to last year, the physical volumes of deliveries increased by 1.8 times, and in monetary terms, imports increased by 1.5%.
Turkmenistan is the largest supplier of tomatoes to the local market with a 74% share of imports. Another 25% comes from supplies from Uzbekistan, the newspaper notes.
In December last year, a member of the Kyrgyz parliament, Erkin Zholdoshaliev, spoke about the need to support domestic farmers who cannot work in conditions when cheap products are imported into the country, in particular, “cheap tomatoes from Turkmenistan”.
Turkmenistan actively exports tomatoes. The main buyers in 2020 were the EAEU countries. The volume of exports to Kazakhstan (26.7%), Kyrgyzstan (10.1%) and Russia (63.2%) in 2020 amounted to 33.78 thousand tons with a total value of $37.6 million. This is 60% more than in 2019.
For four months of 2021, 5.42 thousand tons of tomatoes were delivered from Turkmenistan to Kyrgyzstan for $5.28 million.
Hronikatm.com,
August 8, 2022