Russia to Sign Agreement for Direct Delivery of Uzbek Cotton

Russia is planning to sign an intergovernmental agreement for direct deliveries of Uzbek cotton fiber, the Russian online news service regnum.ru reported, citing the Uzbek newspaper Novy Vek.

In 2011, Uzbekistan plans to reduce its cotton exports from 880,000 tons, shipped in 2010, down to 750,000 tons, in order to create new production facilties and increase its capacity to produce cotton fiber, which will increase by 100,000 tons to 370,000 tons, said Novy Vek.

Uzbekistan's main cotton purchasers are Bangladesh, China, Russia and Turkey. Farmers harvested 3.2 million tons of raw cotton in 2010, 1.4 percent more than in 2009.

Uzbekistan increased its cotton fiber export in January 2011 by 27.5 percent, and its total foreign trade volume for January increased by 24.9 percent, to $1.4 billion, regnum.ru reported.