President Shavkat Mirziyoyev today signed a decree on the introduction of zero custom import duties on a number of food items on Monday. 

By decree until January 1, 2024, the following food items and goods will be waived from customs duty, with immediate effect:

• Pork, fresh, chilled or frozen; Other meat and edible meat offal, fresh, chilled or frozen; Pig fat, separated from lean meat, and poultry fat, not rendered or otherwise extracted, fresh, chilled, frozen, salted, in brine, dried or smoked
• Buttermilk, curdled milk and cream, yoghurt, kefir and other fermented or fermented milk and cream, whether or not condensed, whether or not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter, whether or not flavored, whether or not containing added fruit, nuts or cocoa
• Cheese and cottage cheese
• Birds' eggs, without shells and egg yolks, fresh, dried, steamed or boiled, shaped, frozen or otherwise preserved, whether or not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter
• Onions, shallots, garlic, leeks and other bulbous vegetables, fresh or chilled
• Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and chicory (Cichorium spp.), fresh or chilled
• Legume vegetables, dried, peeled, seeded or unpeeled, split or not split
• Dates, figs, pineapples, avocados, guava, mango and mangosteen or garcinia, fresh or dried
• Apples, pears and quince, fresh
• Other fruits
• Flour from grains of other cereals, except wheat or wheat-rye
• Cereals, wholemeal flour and cereal granules
• Fine and coarse flour, powder, flakes, potato granules
• Flour and meal and powder of dried leguminous vegetables of heading 0713, of the heart of sago palm, of roots or tubers of heading 0714 or of products of Chapter 08
• Starch; inulin
• Coconut (copra), palm kernel or babassu oil and their fractions, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified
• Other prepared or preserved meat, meat offal or blood products
• Ready or canned fish; sturgeon caviar and its substitutes made from fish eggs
• Molasses resulting from the extraction or refining of sugar
• Sugar confectionery (including white chocolate) not containing cocoa
• Chocolate and other food items containing cocoa
• Pasta, whether or not cooked, whether or not stuffed (of meat or other products), or otherwise prepared or uncooked, such as spaghetti, macaroni, noodles, lasagne, gnocchi, ravioli, cannelloni; couscous, cooked or uncooked
• Bread, confectionery, cakes, biscuits and other bakery and flour confectionery products, whether or not containing cocoa; wafers, empty capsules suitable for pharmaceutical use, wafer sealable wafers, rice paper and similar products
• Other vegetables, prepared or preserved without the addition of vinegar or acetic acid, frozen
• Other vegetables, prepared or preserved, not containing vinegar or acetic acid, not frozen
• Jams, fruit jellies, marmalades, fruit or nut purees, fruit or nut pastes obtained by heat treatment, including those containing added sugar or other sweetening matter
• Fruits, nuts and other edible parts of plants, otherwise prepared or preserved, whether or not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter or alcohol, not elsewhere specified or included
• Extracts, essences and concentrates of coffee, tea or mate or Paraguayan tea, and preparations based on them or based on coffee, pli mate tea or Paraguayan tea; roasted chicory and other roasted coffee substitutes and extracts, essences and concentrates thereof
• Products for the preparation of sauces and ready-made sauces; flavoring additives and seasonings mixed; mustard powder and prepared mustard
• Soups and broths and preparations for their preparation; homogenized composite prepared food products
• Waters, including natural or artificial mineral waters, carbonated, without added sugar or other sweetening or flavoring substances
• Waters, including mineral and fizzy waters containing added sugar or other sweetening or flavoring substances, and other non-alcoholic beverages
• Products used before, during or after shaving, personal deodorants, bath preparations, hair removers and other perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations, not elsewhere specified or included; room deodorants, whether or not scented, with or without disinfectant properties
• Children's clothing and accessories for children's clothing, knitted or crocheted
• Shoes with an insole length of less than 24 cm.

It is noteworthy that zero rates for these goods are being introduced for the first time ever. In addition to them, until July 1, 2023, there are zero rates valid for 22 types of food items, including meat, fish, dairy products, fruits and vegetable oil.

In addition, the new list includes chocolate, confectionery, fresh apples, pears and quinces, yogurt, kefir and other dairy products, pasta, cheeses and other products, the rates for which were proposed to be reset in the summer of 2022, but they were not included in final list.

The introduction of waivers was announced by Shavkat Mirziyoyev on March 23 at a government meeting dedicated to measures to increase the procurement of food products, the effective organization of the spring sowing season.

The event noted that over the past two years, global food inflation has been at least 15-20% per year, world prices for vegetable oil, milk and meat have risen to the highest level in the last 30 years, and for grain products and sugar - to the highest level. high level over the past 10 years.

The increase in logistics, fertilizer and fuel costs for export-import also affects the cost of food. According to the analysis, this situation will continue in 2023 and in the coming years.

In Uzbekistan, 200 thousand hectares of land have been allocated for the cultivation of food products, an additional 500 thousand hectares of land have been put into circulation, which "serves to stabilize prices in the domestic market and increase exports."

“However, the growth of our population, unstable situation in the world, interruptions in logistics pose more serious tasks for us in terms of increasing food,” the head of state said.

In this regard, governors of provinces and mayors of districts were instructed to find additional facilities to increase food production and employment of people.