Prospects of increasing the volumes of textile exports from Uzbekistan to Russia. 1
Uzbekistan Railways to invest over $ 800 million on projects in the current year 6
Export
Prospects of increasing the volumes of textile exports from Uzbekistan to Russia
Russia’s light industry is one of the vital sectors of the national economy. Nowadays, it encompasses 17 sub-sectors. By the type of economic activity, the light industry is composed of two groups: textile production and garment production, which accounts for 77 per cent of the total volume of output, as well as production of leather and footwear, making up about 23 per cent.
More than 29,000 enterprises (8 per cent of which are large-scale ones) and 49,000 private entrepreneurs operate in the sector. The number of people employed at the light-industry enterprises exceeds 400,000, with female workers representing some 75 per cent of personnel.
In 2013, there were more than 9,000 enterprises and 11,000 individual entrepreneurs in the Russian textile industry. In the garment sub-sector, the ratio was 9,000 and 16.500, respectively. And in the boot-and-shoe industry, there were 1,600 enterprises and 1,600 individual entrepreneurs.
Enterprises of the light industry are located in 72 regions across the Russian Federation, with the majority of them concentrating in the Central, Privolzhsky and Southern Federal Okrugs. Over 70 per cent of these enterprises are city-forming ones.
The light industry accounts for 25 per cent of the retail market’s volume, or 2.6 trillion Roubles (to compare: the shares of the automobile industry, electronics and pharmaceutics are as follows: 12 per cent, 7 per cent and 6 per cent, correspondingly).
A wide and versatile range of produce is available in the Russian market. In its “fabrics” segment, the commodities of home manufacture prevail. The share of cotton fabrics in the total sales volume reaches 90 per cent, linen – 86 per cent, wool – 74 per cent and silk (mainly made of synthetic fiber) – 69 per cent. On the contrary, the finished clothes market is dominated by imported produce. At the same time, home-made clothes represent 41 per cent, footwear – 33 per cent, and knitted wear and hosiery – about 12 per cent.
Prior to Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization, the weighted average interest rate of customs duties on garments and other output of the textile and light industry was 15.07 per cent. When the country joined the WTO, the rate dropped to 9.9 per cent, and the ad valorem (cost) rate per unit fell from 1.4 Euro to 1.1 Euro. So, the industry’s losses caused by Russia’s entry into the WTO may be estimated at US $1.3 billion, with the peak of losses taking place in the period 2015-2016.
The main trend observable in the market for knitted wear and textile produce is a steady growth of demand for quality inexpensive produce, which is characterized by up-to-date original design. This is true not only of the adult-clothes segment, but also for new-born babies and children under the age of three.
Today, the market share of Russian manufacturers is circa 13 per cent. The clothes of home production are almost completely sold within the country. The Russia-made textile produce is not exported, as it is much more expensive than foreign one. A garment manufactured in Russia costs 25 per cent higher than that imported from China.
According to data from the WTO’s International Trading Center, Russia imports more than US $10 billion worth of textile goods a year (mainly 57, 61, 62 and 63 commodity groups).
Fig.1. Dynamic of finished textile imports to Russia (mln US dollars)
In terms of volume, finished textile imports to the Russian Federation tend to increase at a rapid clip year in, year out. (The only exception is the year 2009, when the global financial-economic crisis burst out at the end of 2008). In 2008, the growth rate of imprints stood at 45 per cent, in 2010 – 48 per cent and in 2013 – 3.1 per cent. At the same time, it needs to note that the deliveries of finished textile goods from Uzbekistan have been swelling steadily. Even in 2009, when delivery volumes of the world’s biggest importer – China – decreased by 13 per cent, Uzbekistan managed to increase the export to Russia of finished textile commodities by 12 per cent.
China is a major supplier of finished textile goods to Russia, whose share of the latter’s total volume of finished textile imports exceeds 39 per cent. The following product categories are mainly delivered from China: finished women’s dresses (17.8 per cent of the overall Chinese imports volume of finished textile goods), pullovers (12.5 per cent), women’s raincoats (9.3 per cent), men’s raincoats (7.6 per cent), men’s suits (7.3 per cent), tights (5.2 per cent), T-shirts (4.2 per cent), women’s jackets (3.9 per cent), shirts (3.1 per cent) etc.
Fig. 2. Main suppliers of finished textile goods to Russia
The suppliers of finished textile goods to the Russian Federation also include: Turkey (6 per cent), Italy (5 per cent), India (1 per cent) and Bangladesh (0.5 per cent). As far as the Republic of Uzbekistan is concerned, it accounts for 2 per cent of Russia’s total volume of textile imports. The major commodity groups supplied by Uzbekistan are as follows: suits, women’s jackets (14 per cent), knitted wear (12 per cent), women’s dresses (8 per cent), women’s coats and raincoats (8 per cent), tights and hosiery (7 per cent), T-shirts (7 per cent), men’s coats and cloaks (6 per cent), women’s blouses (3 per cent), garment patterns (2 per cent), men’s shirts (2 per cent) etc.
As a whole, in 2013, the finished clothes market of the CIS member states was estimated by IA Euromonitor at about US $73 billion, having grown by 53 per cent, compared to 2008. At the same time, the market is expected to further expand by 55 per cent or up to US $112 billion by the year 2018.
In the CIS, the Russian Federation represents the largest proportion of the market for finished clothes (77 per cent), with the fastest growth rate (some 78 per cent) expected in the children’s clothing sector.
(Source: «Business partner.uz» newspaper)
Green ENERGETICS
Sources of the Future
Search for the most effective energy sources has always been in the spotlight in the history of civilization. Their development has been invested by huge funds. Energy sources are seen as a big advantage in getting unrestricted income and spread of influence in the international arena.
Analyzing the recurring cycles of global economic crises, many researchers come to the conclusion that the search of ways out of them naturally brings the international community to a new stage of technological progress, providing a dynamic and efficient production growth.
Thus, the way out of the ongoing global crisis largely depends on how quickly the states will be able to shift to a new phase of technological breakthrough, especially in the energy sector.
Therefore, states all over the world have been close attention to the use of environmentally friendly renewable energy sources (RES), mainly solar and wind. Uzbekistan has also been taking certain measures to keep abreast the global trend of large-scale energy development with the use of alternative sources.
A Way Out of Alarming Situation
The essence of the global drama that has been unfolding before the eyes of the current generation is about the significant increase of energy consumption.
Today, the amount of annually burned fossil fuel in the world is equivalent to 12 billion tons of oil, or about two tons for each person on the globe. Over the past 40 years, the amount of extracted fossil fuels in the world has exceeded the volume of its production in the entire previous history of mankind.
Fossil fuels – coal, oil, natural gas and uranium, make up the basis of the world energy balance today, while their reserves have been exhausting. Despite the currently decreasing cost of the liquid hydrocarbon in the global market, at the present level of energy consumption the world’s oil reserves will hardly last for 45 years, natural gas – for 70, coal – for 150 years.
It is very worrisome that the dramatic scale of consumption and burning of fossil fuels has been causing considerable damage to the environment, affecting health and quality of people’s life, and threatening sustainability of the future development.
Large-scale use of traditional energy resources has caused global environmental problems like climate change, ozone depletion and others. The industrial emissions of carbon dioxide alone into the atmosphere exceed 5 billion tons per year, and carbon monoxide – nearly 300 million tons. The amount of harmful emissions on the globe has increased by 3.5 times compared to the ‘50s of the last century, and has a stable upward trend at that.
The way out of the current alarm situation comes to the further development of renewable energy.
A Factor of Innovative Development
The development and use of renewable energy sources in the world has been turning into an unconditional factor of innovative development. In particular, they entail the development of new technologies of electricity and heat production, enhance their energy efficiency, create new jobs, improve the quality of people’s life, while improving environmental conditions and reducing the threat of man-made disasters.
In this context, the leading states of the world are aiming to achieve 20% of the share of renewable energy in electricity generation and more by 2020. To this end, the United States and Japan have considerably increased the areas of solar collectors. About 1 million solar energy units in Israel provide 75% of the total hot water supply in the country. In Europe, annual growth of renewable energy is 40-45%. Wind energy has been rapidly developing as well.
The practice of renewable energy systems shows that they generally pay off in spite of high purchase costs and use in the initial period of operation.
Uzbekistan has a great potential of renewable energy, which, according to experts, significantly exceeds the traditional fuel resources. There are more than 320 sunny days a year, vast windswept areas, as well as mountain streams, which can be used for power generation. Meanwhile, about 97% of renewable energy capacity falls on solar energy. Wind resources, small hydro energy, biomass and geothermal energy remain a live issue today. According to expert estimates, the opportunities of using renewable energy sources in Uzbekistan are equal to the equivalent to 51 billion tons of oil. Existing technologies allow obtaining energy equivalent to 179 million tons of oil, which is three times the amount of fuel produced in the country, and prevent emissions of 447 million tons of carbon dioxide, various sulfur compounds, nitrogen oxide and other pollutants. Moreover, they are the only available energy sources for communities in remote and mountainous areas.
Keeping up with the Times
Intensive research of solar energy in the 80s of the last century in Uzbekistan resulted in the establishment of the Asia’s unparalleled Research and Experimental Center of Physics-Sun of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. Its products were known far beyond the country’s borders. There is a large solar furnace with 1 MW solar concentrator, allowing to reach 30,000 degrees Celsius, ensure the production of ultra-pure materials, and conduct unique research and thermal tests.
Uzbek scientists have already developed several generations of solar water heaters, combined solar-fuel boilers, desalination equipment, agricultural product dryers, seed impulse treatment. There are activities on the direct conversion of solar energy into electricity by means of photovoltaic devices and its thermodynamic conversion into mechanical and electrical energy.
A photoelectric conversion of solar energy and its use in remote regions of the country is regarded as a very promising direction. Experimental pilot production of similar solar cells based on silicon and gallium arsenide was established in the Physics and Engineering Institute of the Academy of Sciences. Their operating principle comes to the direct conversion of sunlight, when direct current is generated. The energy can be used directly in different loads of DC, stored in the batteries for later use, and converted into an alternating current of 220 volts.
It is worth to mention the traditional annual national exhibition of innovations, where domestic researchers and experts present new ideas and products, as well as prototypes of high-performance systems, including solar panels and collectors.
For example, in 2005, Uzbek specialists produced and installed an autonomous 300 watt photovoltaic plant in Ayaz-kala camp site in Karakalpakstan, at the request of UNESCO. It has turned a remote uninhabited island into a place of comfort. An effective photovoltaic lighting system was put into operation in Namangan airport in 2008. There are many saimilar examples.
In 2012, the Ecology Movement of Uzbekistan established a field training center for renewable energy sources with pilot solar, wind energy, and biogas plants in Mullah Saidqul farm in Farish district of Jizzakh region.
The sixth meeting of the Asian Forum on Solar Energy in November 2013 in Tashkent was a breakthrough in this field. As stated by the head of state at the forum, the problem of the use of solar energy at the present stage of development has been gradually shifting from the field of scientific research and experimental development to practical application, and solar power, like other forms of renewable energy, might become quite competitive, one of the purest forms , methods and ways of obtaining energy.
The establishment of the International Institute of Solar Energy in Tashkent in 2013 was a big event. It has become a regional center for scientific and experimental studies, the results of which can be implemented as promising renewable energy technologies.
A joint pilot project in collaboration with the ADB on the construction of 100 MW solar photovoltaic power plant has been in progress in Samarkand region. In the future, Uzbekistan is intending to launch the construction of several large-scale solar power plants based on new high-performance technologies. To do this, the most advanced compact automatic weather stations were installed in six regions of Uzbekistan for collecting solar energy data.
More than 10,000 modern standard design individual houses of a total area of over 1.5 million square meters are annually built in Uzbekistan under the Program of Rural Housing Development. The program envisages the massive construction of energy-efficient houses operated by solar energy technologies, using the experience of the most advanced European and Asian countries.
Works on equipping schools and colleges with solar collectors in remote and inaccessible areas have been underway. Photovoltaic panels have been installed in hundreds rural health units.
Experts of the Ecology Movement believe that the transition of internal combustion engines to cryogenic hydrogen or gasoline-hydrogen composite fuel would be most effective and economically perfect for vehicles. Numerous scientific events worldwide have been dedicated to the issue of hydrogen.The participants agreed that the widespread use of hydrogen in the energy sector is a unique chance for the humanity to survive in a world free from the environmental and social disasters.
The hydrogen production has increased significantly in the world over the last 20 years. It is projected that its further production will increase by 15-20% in the next decade. It is obvious that the widespread use of any type of fuel in industries requires at least two conditions: the optimum technology and the organization of its industrial production. At the same time, it should be affordable, and manufacture – a relatively cheap.
Issues in Priority
Meanwhile, oil and gas occupy 97% in the structure of the country’s primary fuel and energy resources, but their share is still not so significant despite the great potential of renewable energy sources.
However, the slow pace of development of renewable energy on industrial scale in our country is quite understandable due to other energy issues of primary solution.
The gross domestic product has been showing more than 8 percent annual growth for over 11 years in Uzbekistan. At such rates, the load on the power system of the country has been increasing every year. High energy intensity of Uzbekistan’s economy, entailed by the operation of obsolete equipment and a high degree of network deterioration at the majority of enterprises is another important aspect. Therefore, the ‘Program of measures on reduction of energy consumption and introduction of energy-saving technologies for 2015-2019’ prioritizes the accelerated development of renewable energy sources, including the proven technologies of solar energy.
Besides, the document envisages privileges and preferences for the companies and organizations that generate energy, or specialize in the production of the plants that generate power from renewable energy sources.
It is obvious that enhancement of energy efficiency and provision of stable operation of the fuel energy complex will remain a priority. The Uzbekenergo energy saving program for 2020 envisages implementation of 54 investment projects in the electric energy sector totaling more than $7 billion. It would empower the country to ensure the introduction of additional 2,520 MW generating capacities, and laying over 548 km of power lines. At the same time, energy-saving measures will increase the amount of electricity generated by an average of 30% while maintaining fuel consumption at the current level due to lowered energy consumption.
According to domestic experts, efforts on the introduction of renewable energy sources, channeling investments, and development of new technologies and industries may be refocused only after addressing the fundamental aspects of development of the energy sector and reaching the level of world standards for energy consumption in all sectors of the economy. As a result, that would reduce emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that affect climate change.
(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)
TRANSPORT
Uzbekistan Railways to invest over $ 800 million on projects in the current year
In accordance with the investment program for 2016 “Uzbekistan Railways” is planning to implement 28 projects worth more than $ 800 million, according to the Deputy Chairman of the Board of JSC “Uzbekistan Railways”, Ravshan Ikramov .
These funds will be used to complete the construction of the railway “Angren – Pap”, to electrify the sections “Kokand-Andijan”, to launch high-speed trains “Samarkand – Bukhara”, to complete construction of a new railway line “Navoi – Kanimekh-Misken”, to complete the electrification of the railway line “Karshi- Termez” and also to purchase new passenger trains and other projects.
To date, the carrier’s locomotive park was updated by more than 50 %. Over the past 10-15 years, 1,200 kilometers of new railways in the country were laid thanks to the efforts of railway workers, 3,800 kilometers of steel tracks were upgraded and relaunched, about 1,100 km were electrified. As a result of the large-scale construction, the total length of railways of the Republic today is 6500 km.
Last year, 67.7 million tons of cargo and more than 20 million passengers were transported to their destinations by the railway.
(Source: IA «Uzbekistan Today»)
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Uzbekistan started to realize a project on construction of new railway Navoi-Kanimeh-Misken, the press service of Uzbekistan Temir Yollari said.
The length of the new line is 396.9 km. The new line will link Navoi-Uchquduq-Sultanuizdag-Nukus at Misken station, which will help to boost railway transportation to northern directions, in particular, Kazakhstan and Russia.
The project will be implemented in two phases. The first phase will be implemented in 2015-2017 and envisages construction of railway Navoi-Kanimeh-Misken for movement of trains on diesel traction.
The cost of the first phase of the project is US$238.1 million and it will be financed due to internal resources.
Within the second stage, it is planned to electrify the railway. The term and cost of the second phase will be determined later.
(Source: UzDaily.com)
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